Bradfield Students Blaze New Trails at CAMP READ-A-LOT
Bradfield Broncos broke records at this year’s CAMP READ-A-LOT themed Reading Rodeo, raising more than $155,000 for their school during a week of page-turning fun and friendly competition.
“You read so much,” music teacher Jonathan Foley told kindergartners and first graders during the school’s Sept. 27 awards ceremony. “And then you read even s’more!”
Bradfield students read for a total of 286,538 minutes during Reading Rodeo week. They enjoyed donuts during the celebration while cheering on the winning readers with help from their school mascot, Blaze the Bronco.
Third-grade twins Cordelia and Betty Taylor both won medals for being their classes’ top readers. The girls each logged 2,207 reading minutes.
“We read all car rides, and we also read at night ’til 10 o’clock,” Cordelia said. “That was our strategy. And so, we read six hours every day.”
Cordelia said that her favorite books are those in the Harry Potter series. Betty prefers Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
The school’s top fundraiser, fourth-grader Greyson Binswanger, made more than 190 phone calls to collect $26,132 for his school. He’s led Bradfield in money raised for four years running.
“I made a lot of calls,” he explained, “and just didn’t give up.”
More than 30 volunteers teamed up with Bradfield’s teachers and staff to make CAMP READ-A-LOT a week full of excitement and surprises for the Broncos. Planning for the celebration began in the summer, said Missy Peck, who co-chaired the event with Caitlin Bonner and Lauren Calano.
“It’s so worth it to see how excited they get and to get them to read,” Peck said. “It’s so important. It helps with all their other cognitive learning.”
The fun began on Sept. 18 with a camp-themed kick-off celebration and continued with daily reading rewards.
Every day, the class with the most reading minutes at each grade level was able to share their love of books with a new class pet, MR. READ S’MORE. Several of the stuffed campfire marshmallows traveled around the school during CAMP READ-A-LOT.
The class at each grade level that read the most minutes at the end of the week was awarded a trophy and their own MR. READ S’MORE, who students will be able to keep in their room for the entire year. Prizes were also given to the class at each grade level that raised the most funds.
Families could join the fun by reading to their Broncos. All reading at home and at school counted in CAMP READ-A-LOT, including independent reading, listening to a parent or sibling read, and listening to an audio book.
During the week, Bradfield families also shared their love of reading with the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center by donating more than 1,000 books to the nonprofit.
CAMP READ-A-LOT, Peck said, starts the year off right by boosting both school fundraising and student interest in books.
“It gets the kids really excited about reading,” she said, “which is really important.”
