As part of our World Book Day celebrations, we held a 24 hour read-a-thon and library sleepover in the Learning Hub with the help of Miss Ling, Mr MacDonald, Mr Mulcahy and Miss Hannant. Pupils were sponsored to read as many books as they could within 24 hours in aid of Read For Good, a charity that sends books and storytellers to children in hospital (the total amount raised will be shared soon).
24 pupils took part in the read-a-thon and had a variety of reasons for signing up – Sam, who read 2 books during the read-a-thon, had some books he wanted to finish and thought it would be a good opportunity to read them, while Hannah, who read 3 books, wanted a chance to read more as she doesn’t read much outside of school. Harriet just wanted to challenge herself and see how many books she could read in a day – she read 5 in total!
Jimmy tells us more about the day…
On Friday 9th of March 24 people came to the Learning Hub at 9am with bags full of books, blankets and bedrolls (also a rather large amount of chocolate and sweets). They were here for a 24 hour read-a-thon.
When we arrived we laid out our sleeping spaces and settled down for a full hour of reading. After the first reading stint we built cosy reading dens and voted for our favourites. The winners were Bethany, Tabitha and Solie. We then read again for another hour in our dens.
Next we played a game of book-themed ‘Would you rather?’ with questions like “would you rather see you favourite book dropped into a wood chipper or drop it down the toilet?” Then it was time for break when we could do whatever we wanted. So obviously I kept reading. About this time I finished my first book.
We kept reading until lunch when a lot of us went to the hall to get a hot meal. I got fish and chips. But I couldn’t finish because I had eaten too much chocolate earlier in the day! When lunch was over we played a game of Pictionary – I played twice and guessed a lot more. Then we read until the end of the school day when we had a break while some people went to drama rehearsals until 17:00. When they got back we played giant Jenga where all the blocks had reading related questions attached such as ‘Which book do you wish had a sequel?’ and ‘Where is your favourite place to read?’
After Jenga it was time for food. We had sandwiches, biscuits, fruit and squash. After this we were free to relax with our friends or keep reading. Later we ordered pizza from Dominos and rounded off the night of by watching ‘A Monster Calls.’ After that everyone stayed awake for a few more hours before most of us fell asleep.
Overall, we read 34 books and I personally read 4 books over the course of the day. It was really excellent, I loved the reading and the dens and hope we can do it again.
Other pupils commented:
‘The best thing about the read-a-thon is that I read books I wouldn’t usually pick to read.’- Laura, year 8.
‘It was really fun. Can we do it next year?’ Harriet, year 8.
‘The best thing was reading and making friends.’ Kerri, year 7.
