To pay your fundraiser pledge, visit our Donation Page.
The Read & Write-a-thon is the PTA's biggest annual fundraiser in which we challenge students to read and write more while raising money for the PTA. Students gather pledges of support for their time spent reading and writing. Students keep track of their time in the Reading and Writing log. For each hour of logged time, a ticket with the student's name is added to their classroom's jar. In March, we'll have a literature themed party!
Our goal this year is 10,000 hours of writing and reading, and $10,000 in pledges. This fundraiser is the PTA's largest source of revenue for the year, and an essential source of funds which help the Ivy School PTA continue to provide campus improvements, staff benefits, and fund social events that take place throughout the year. For more information about what the PTA does, visit the About page.
The reading and writing portion of the fundraiser will take place the entire month of February. Students may turn in their tickets for time spent reading and writing between Friday, February 1 and Thursday, February 28.
Because February is Black History Month, we suggest using potential extra reading time as an opportunity to explore African American literature and history. Please check out your library for book resources or go here.
The first week or so of February is for asking potential sponsors for pledges, although pledges can be accepted throughout the month.
The first week of March is for collecting the pledges. Pledge payments can be accepted online in addition to cash / check. Sponsors may go here to donate online. Checks can be made out to The Ivy School PTA.
Students will be sent home with packets in advance of the fundraiser, and the documents in that packet will be available for download below.
Ivy will celebrate the close of the Read & Write-a-thon with a party (date pending) at each campus. Students may come to school dressed as their favorite book character or author.
We will show students how many minutes of reading and writing their classroom is logging, and teachers may encourage sharing of reading and writing work.
Generally speaking, time outside of the classroom devoted to focused practice or application of the skills associated with written language qualifies.
Reading materials that would qualify include books, newspaper articles and magazines. These can be in paper format or on a device. For beginning readers, being read to counts as well.
For beginning writers, writing lists, sentences or words qualifies. For more experienced writers challenging oneself to write stories, reports, letters or plans is encouraged.
Activities only qualify if they take place outside of school or before / after school.
Having sponsors is not a requirement to participate in the Read and Write-a-thon! If you would like a call list of people who have agreed to sponsor a student, please contact us at ivyschoolpta@gmail.com. The goal is for every student to have at least four sponsors.
Student packets include the following documents, which may be downloaded here as well:
The Reading and Writing Log is a list of all activities associated with the fundraising that the student has completed, and also helps with tracking whether a ticket has been turned in for a given time entry.
Begin by providing the student and classroom name at the top. Estimate and record a reading goal per week and then for the entire 4-week long month of February.
Each time the student spends time reading or writing, add an entry with the date, activity, minutes, a running total of all minutes, and whether a ticket has been submitted for that time. Submitted tickets represent one hour of reading or writing. You can also just cross out the lines that have been submitted as a ticket.
The Reading and Writing Log does not need to be returned to the classroom at the end of the fundraiser.
The Sponsor Information and Pledge Sheet is for gathering pledges for the fundraiser and tracking who you have collected from.
Begin by providing the student and classroom name at the top. Copy the estimated hours from the Reading and Writing log for the whole month into the "goal" box on the left. At the end of the fundraiser, write the total hours in the box on the right.
Sponsors may pledge a certain amount per hour. They can cap that amount by setting a maximum pledge. Alternatively, they can provide a fixed pledge for participation. Once the fundraiser is over, any uncollected pledges can be collected as cash or check, or the sponsor can be invited to pledge online. In this case, write "online" in the righthand column.
Return the Sponsor Imformation and Pledge Sheet along with pledges at the end of the fundraiser.
If you have other questions or comments, please contact us at ivyschoolpta@gmail.com. Thank you and have fun!
