Read-a-Thon
Grab your favorite books and
Bee in Love with Reading!
Friday, March 3 – Monday, March 13, 2023
Grab your favorite books and BEE IN LOVE WITH READING!
Encourage your child to read lots of books and find at least one sponsor to support his/her reading and to raise money for our school in one of Morris Brandon’s biggest fundraisers!
Read A Thon is an opportunity for Morris Brandon students to celebrate the joy of reading while fundraising – it’s also Morris Brandon PTA’s largest annual fundraiser that supports a variety of student activities and school needs. Help us achieve our goal of $35,000 raised and 250,000 minutes read outside the classroom! Thank you, Neeley Bain/Dorsey Alston, for sponsoring this year’s event!
How to Get Started
Students will use Beanstack for both logging minutes and fundraising.
- Log into Beanstack through MyBackpack (https://mybackpack.apsk12.org/) using your student’s username and password. Select “Log Reading and Activities” to enter minutes read each day or select “Bees Love to Read” under Challenges to see your student and overall school wide progress against our goals! All Donations will be made in Beanstack via credit card through the fundraising link. There are TWO ways to navigate to this link:
- When logged into Beanstack select “Bees Love to Read” under Fundraisers then “View My Donation Page” to get to your student’s individual fundraising page with a link to share directly with friends and family as well as on social media.
-OR- - Go to https://apsbrandon.beanstack.org/fundraiser and enter your student’s name into the search feature (name must match student records exactly) to navigate to your student’s individual fundraising page where you can then share their link directly with friends and family as well as on social media.
Reading and Fundraising Prizes
- Top 3 Readers (per grade): Barnes & Nobles Gift Cards ($75,$50,$25)
- Top 3 Fundraisers (schoolwide): Kazoo Gift Cards ($100,$75,$25)
- Reading Raffle: Read 150+ minutes for a chance to win a $25 Kazoo gift card (1 per grade) •Fundraising Raffle: Get 1+ donations for a chance to win a $25 Kazoo gift card (1 per grade) •Kona Ice Party: for all students who raise at least $300
- Class Party: for the class in each grade with the highest average minutes read
- Royal Reader/Worker/Busy Bee: reading recognition at every level!
- Royal Reader Bee: PK/K/1 – 400 min; 2nd – 600 min, 3rd/4th/5th – 800 min •Worker Bee: PK/K/1 – 250 min; 2nd – 350 min, 3rd/4th/5th – 550 min •Busy Bee: All Grades – 100 minutes
FAQ
Q: What is Read A Thon?
A: Read A Thon is an annual Morris Brandon fundraiser that raises money for our school while encouraging and rewarding students for reading. Strong reading skills are key to educational success and our 10 days of reading gets students involved and excited about books and other reading materials. Read A Thon also happens to be one of our largest annual fundraisers, ensuring that our school continues to be the “Place to Bee!”
Q: What reading counts?
A: ALL reading counts – books, e-books, picture books, graphic novels, textbooks, magazines, and newspapers all count towards minutes. Audio books do not count. Parents can read to children; children can read to parents! Reading in any language counts! If one student reads to another student, they both get the minutes! We have already accounted for reading done at school in the classroom so don’t record minutes from your time at language lab, during science, etc. but do record reading on the bus, at recess or during carpool!
Q: How do I log minutes?
A: Minutes will be tracked using Beanstack. Students can access Beanstack at school on their APS issued devices or Parents/Students may access Beanstack through APS MyBackpack (https://mybackpack.apsk12.org/) on any device by using the student username and password. Once in Beanstack simply click “Log Reading and Activities” to log minutes read.
Q: How do I collect sponsors and donations?
A: Students can ask family, friends and neighbors to sponsor them with a donation. Simply share the Beanstack “Bees Love to Read” individual student fundraising page (via text, email, or social media). Refer to the “How to Get Started” section for how to find and share your students fundraising page link.
Q: What are Beanstack Activities?
A: These are activities, like “read outside”, that students can choose to do as part of Read A Thon. Students earn an activity badge in Beanstack for each activity they complete! Click “Log Reading and Activities” then click “Complete an Activity” to view a list of activities available to complete. These are completely optional and intended to add another layer of fun to the program!
Q: When do students begin and end logging minutes?
A: Students may begin logging minutes at 8:00 am on Friday, March 3. Read A Thon ends at bedtime on Friday March 13.
Q: Who is this year’s guest author?
A We are incredibly honored to have Morris Brandon’s very own Joe Freeman as our guest author this year. He will be reading from his book, “The Adventures of BG “Lucky Enough to see the World Differently.” His book is available for purchase on Amazon. Click HERE for the link.
Questions? Ask the Read A Thon Committee Chairs at mb.readathon@gmail.com