Lake Washington Schools Foundation proudly supports 23 elementary schools in purchasing books for their annual Amazing Reading Challenge, helping ignite a love of reading and enhance student learning.
This program aims to engage students grades 3-5 in a variety of new, diverse texts with a range of reading levels. A core group of school librarians work tirelessly to select books, create questions, and plan the logistics of the competition.
With a building-based competition, semi-finals, and final competition, students engage with interesting titles while practicing and enhancing interpersonal skills and reading comprehension.
With LWSF’s grant, schools will have equitable access to funding based on the number of books needed for teams at each school.
Though preparation starts before the school year even begins, promoting the event kicks off in early September, followed by team formation, practices, and competitions concluding mid to late March.
Students have shared that reading these books has helped expose them to titles they may not have independently selected. In addition, there are many reports from parents telling us how their child had never expressed a strong interest in reading until they joined ARC. One parent in particular shared how her son has always been more interested in sports but that competing in ARC has opened a new door for him and he now is requesting to read books that were not a part of the competition.
Edith Brumant, Principal, Horace Mann Elementary School
