Schools

HMS Reading Rally Gives Back

During a Reading Rally at Herndon Middle School students collected more than 450 books for local children in need.

Herndon Middle School students spent the day before Christmas break reading all day while giving back to the local community.

Last year reading specialists Janice Killian and Hallie Case learned about a program called Milk and Bookies, along with the concept of a Reading Rally, and decided to bring it to Herndon Middle School.

Through Milk and Bookies, HMS was paired with a local organization in need of donations of children’s books. On Thursday, Dec. 22, the school collected nearly 500 books that will go to children in need through the Neighborhood Resource Center, in Herndon.

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Students who brought in books to donate got to take part in a milk and cookies reception for their donation and write a special message to the recipients of the books.

The celebration was about more than collecting books for children in need though. Case and Killian decided to make a day of it with the reading rally. Throughout the day students would have free reading time in each class, and participate in reading-related activities that focused on the subject of each class.

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Throughout the day the number of pages read by each student was tallied in their classes to see how many pages HMS students could conquer during the reading rally. More than 6,300 pages were read during the course of the day.

Other reading activities included reading aloud, creating pop-up books, book title charades and more.

Killian said to get staff involved in the program and get students excited they did short video interviews asking why they read, what their favorite book is, or who their favorite author is.

Last year the school did the event on a smaller scale and had an author come to speak to students. Case said it was well received so they wanted to bring something similar to this year’s big event.

Storyteller Gary Lloyd was invited to the school to tell stories to the students during an assembly. Lloyd told six short survival stories to the students who then had to guess which were fact and which were fiction.

Case said she was excited to be able to end the first half of the school year on a fun note and send the students into winter break ready to pick up a book and read.

Killian said she wants students to associate reading with positive feelings and hopes they enjoyed the event and will look forward to it next year.

The pair said the administration was helpful and supportive of the program and the staff was positive about it as well. Killian said it feels like Herndin Middle School is united in wanting to get its students excited to read.


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