This year’s Reading Rocks! program raised close to $40,000 this year for the Wilton Education Foundation. The pre K-5 non-competitive read-a-thon encourages children to have fun reading while raising money for WEF, and all proceeds benefit Wilton’s public schools. The program began in January at both Miller Driscoll and Cider Mill Schools.
The Grand Prize iPad winner was 5th grader Matt Martins, who says he enjoyed participating in Reading Rocks! because it is fun to read and get lost in a books. “Reading makes a difference in your life because it can teach you something important and open your mind,” he adds.
The winners of the Kindle Fires were:
Kindergarten: Rebecca Silins
1st Grade: Audrey Burton
2nd Grade: Graham Begnal
Belden Hill: Mason Andrews (5th Grade)
Cannondale: Evan Christianson (4th Grade)
Kent: Matthew Wells (3rd Grade)
Nod Hill: Charlotte Purcell (3rd Grade)
The grade and house with the highest participation, which won a homework-free day and extra recess were Cannondale with 60% participation and 2nd grade with 66% participation.
Teachers also won prizes–each teacher that had students participate in Reading Rocks was entered in a drawing to win gift cards to Amazon to be used towards items for their classroom. Each grade/house had one $50 winner and one $25 winner.
The schools kick off the program with “Dress Like a Book Character Day,” and also celebrate with “Dress Like a Rockstar Day.”
Reading Rocks! co-chairs Jennifer Carvajal and Kiki Cross were pleased with this year’s results.
“We were honored to support the Wilton Education Foundation by continuing the Reading Rocks! fundraiser this year. It is a great community program and really inspires students in Wilton to find the joy in reading. Thank you to all of the parents, teachers, administrators, and community members who supported Reading Rocks this year, and we owe an especially big thank you to the Stroup Family for their continued support of this program.”