Read-A-Thon
January 16 - 31, 2025
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PTA & SCEF Thank You for Your Participation!
The 5th Annual PTA & SCEF Read-A-Thon is a fun two-week event (January 16-31) that encourages the love of reading and directly involves students in raising funds to support their school’s PTA through SCEF, the San Carlos Education Foundation.
Be sure to register and use the online READING LOG to enter all your reading minutes. You can win prizes for registering, reading and sending pledge requests - Click here to see prizes
Check out our SPOTLIGHT to see how the 2025 Read-A-Thon is happening all across San Carlos.
The goals of the Read-A-Thon are:
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Build a love of reading with our students and raise money for our schools.
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Get to 100% student sign-up / participation across the district.
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Raise $200,000 for SCEF, San Carlos Charter, and our PTAs.
FUNDRAISING GOAL
$200,000
92%
$183,450
READING GOAL
2 MILLION MINUTES
122%
2,434,126
Community Support for the Read-A-Thon Is Vital!
Why are we raising money?
The PTA & SCEF Read-A-Thon raises funds for all of the San Carlos public schools via the San Carlos Education Foundation (SCEF). SCEF is the non-profit foundation that raises funds from parents and the community to provide grants which supplement the hiring of additional educators and funds programs to help create a well-rounded education for all students. SCEF also provides an annual grant to every school PTA which allows your PTA to continue to fund art, assemblies, and great community building events and activities at your school. Your donations to SCEF help every student, every day in every classroom.
What is the Goal? While fundraising is not required to participate, our goal this year is to surpass last year's Read-a-Thon which raised nearly $200,000. If every participant can raise $100 we can achieve our goal, and participants can win prizes too! Every student registered in the Read-a-Thon will be entered into a drawing at their school to win Principal for the Day in the spring.
How do I register my reader?
Register at http://pledgestar.com/scef Then, share your reader’s pledge page with grandparents, other family, friends, and anyone else who would like to support your child’s reading!
Sign up with your personal email address. Do NOT use a school district email address.
Sending pledge requests is easy & cute & effective!
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close friends would happily donate if asked. And PledgeStar makes it fun and easy to ask.
Parents simply enter family and friends' names and email addresses or text message numbers, then PledgeStar sends personalized pledge requests from the children that are cute and effective. Over half result in donations. Parents can even post the pledge requests on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, X, Bluesky. PledgeStar streamlines the process with secure, online donations that go directly into the school's account..
Register your child at http://pledgestar.com/scef and follow the simple registration steps. It takes just minutes to set-up your child’s own fundraising page to request pledges. When participants request pledges, they can win special prizes.
Special Events
at the San Carlos branch of the San Mateo County Library
Drop into the San Carlos Public Library throughout January for fun reading activities! Don’t forget to include these reading minutes in your Reading Log!
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Explore a weekend of Reading Forts on Jan 25 & 26 - LINK HERE
For students in K-3rd, enjoy a few extra reading-centric family events.
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On Sun Jan 26, author Oliver Chin hosts a storytime and drawing session featuring his picture book on Lunar New Year. - LINK HERE
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On Mon Jan 27, enjoy the monthly Paws for Tales, where students can secure quick reading sessions to service dogs. - LINK HERE
All month long, enjoy winter BOOK BINGO with small prizes — a fun game that encourages various reading prompts. For both kids and adults. Pick up a Bingo card at the library!
Prizes
Prizes will be awarded for sending pledge requests and for reading books!
PledgeStar Participation Prizes:
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Register on the PledgeStar site - Enter drawing for Principal for the Day at your school.
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Send out your first pledge request - Mini Rubik's Cube.
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Send 5 pledge requests - Mini Lego Set
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Send 10 pledge requests - Toot Sweet Gift Card
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Send 25 pledge requests - Paris Baguette Gift Card
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Class that sends out the most pledges at your school - Reach and Teach Gift Card for the classroom
Prize levels up to the 25 pledge level are cumulative. If you send 25 pledges you will earn the 25, 10, 5, and 1 pledges prizes.
Class Participation Prize:
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Any class that has 100% participation (all students registered on Pledgestar) - Extra Recess!
Reading Minutes Prizes:
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Honor Roll - Your name on the Read-A-Thon website AND receive an Animal Puzzle Eraser when students read over:
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600 minutes (TK-3rd grade)
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800 minutes (grades 4-5)
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1000 minutes (grades 6-8 )
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Rotating Prize! Class with the most reading minutes at each school gets the rotating prize - the Book Worm stuffie! Every 3 days is a chance for your class to get the Book Worm!
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The class that reads the most reading minutes overall at their school gets the Read-A-Thon TROPHY and New Books for their classroom
How It Works
Students start reading January 16-31 and keep track of their minutes on a printed reading log.
Students can also include any minutes they read in class. And TK, Kinder, and First graders can count storytime – any time they are read to – in their totals.
To be eligible for prizes, students/parents must transfer their reading minutes into the Online Reading Log. And all minutes must be entered by 10pm, February 3 for final prize calculations.
Mariposa Principal Theresa Fox produced a "How to Log Reading Minutes" Video - VIEW NOW
Choose Your Reading Goal
Pick a personal, attainable goal … that makes you STRETCH to achieve it!
Every student is different! Personalize your goal to your level. Your teacher can also help you set an appropriate goal.
Log Your Minutes
Parents and Students can enter reading minutes in the online READING LOG.
The READING LOG is located in the ENTER READERS section on https://pledgestar.com/scef/
Click on the small BOOK icon under “READING LOG” to add minutes.
You can add multiple entries and dates at the same time. You can even add multiple entries for the same date. Students/Parents can see individual entries and TOTAL minutes logged.
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Mariposa Principal Theresa Fox produced a "How to Log Reading Minutes" Video - VIEW NOW
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You can also download and PRINT this paper Reading Log to keep track of your minutes throughout each day, then enter your daily minutes later in the Reading Log.
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ALL minutes count: reading in class, reading on your own, being read a story, listening to a read-aloud on video or audio, attending an author event, reading poetry, etc.
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Parents: Help your child log their minutes so their classroom can win prizes!
Reading Activities
Keep up the good work! Expand your reading opportunities with these at-home activities — even after the Read-A-Thon.
Grab a good book, a marker and these Read-A-Thon printable activity sheets! Book BINGO and the Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt are the perfect way to get some extra reading and enjoy quiet moments with a book. Have fun!
For any Read-A-Thon issues or questions, please contact events@scefkids.org