Today is Read Across America Day and every student in Ms. Mary Florence Goding’s first grade class spent 20 minutes reading a book. That time could be worth a lot of money. 

The Willow Brook Read-A-Thon is an engaging and educational fundraiser organized by the school’s PTO. Students are raising money by challenging themselves to read as much as possible. 

“Our PTO is amazing,” Goding said, who serves as the school’s PTO liaison. “They sponsor the whole thing and set it all up. I help them by connecting with the teachers here and passing on the information.”

Goding has 14 students participating in the Read-A-Thon and they have recorded 730 minutes so far. All of the registered students at Willow Brook have logged more than 10,000 minutes so far with 21 days left in the campaign. 

“We try to read 20 minutes in the classroom every day and then they're encouraged to read as much as they want at home as well,” Goding said. “They can log those minutes on their own reading page to keep track of.”

First grader Keira Casey said she reads every night with her family. 

“I read a lot of books with my family before bed,” Casey said, “Me and my brother will take turns reading and I like to read books about dogs.”

There is a school-wide competition to encourage high participation. 

“The class with the most amount of money raised gets an ice cream party and the class with the most minutes read at the end will also get an ice cream party,” Goding said. 

But in the end, the staff members are the real winners. WIth almost $5,000 raised already, Goding said all of that money will go back to help teachers in the classroom. 

“The PTO will use the money raised and provide teachers grants to purchase materials they need.”