A Million Minutes of Reading Kick-Off

On Thursday, November 15th, 24 children gathered with their families to kick off our Million Minutes of Reading program! We began in the Chestnut Hill Community School Auditorium with a read-aloud of How Much Is a Million? by David Schwartz and Steven Kellogg. Local celebrities read this fun book aloud to the children, while images from the book were projected onto the screen. Thanks go to School Committee members Beverly Phaneuf and Richard Fritsch, Selectman Brenda Aldrich, Clapp Memorial Children's Librarian Jennifer Whitehead, Cold Spring School Principal Sandra Bremer, Swift River Elementary School Robert Kuhn, and Chestnut Hill Principal Brian Cameron for reading aloud to a very enthusiastic audience! Following the read-aloud, we all went into the CHCS library to enjoy some reading time together. Some readers brought books, some used books from our school libraries, some read alone, and some read together. It was a great evening of fun and reading.

So now our read-a-thon begins. It is open to anyone in our community who would like to join along. Children in grades K-7 will be encouraged to read at school and at home and the Clapp Memorial Library is encouraging its patrons to read with us. Reading logs for children and adults are available at Cold Spring School, Swift River Elementary School, Chestnut Hill Community School, and Jabish Brook Middle School, as well as Clapp Library. When participants fill one up, they are encouraged to return them to their school or to Clapp Library and take another to keep on going. Our goal is to read for a million minutes by January. Once we reach our goal, celebrations will be had at each of the schools. We'll keep you posted on our progress!

Check out pictures from the family reading portion of the night below: