We absolutely love seeing all the amazing ways that you all choose to celebrate Jumpstart’s Read for the Record each year! You never fail to impress us with the wonderful creativity and joy that you bring to every campaign. We wanted to try something new this year to honor all the hard work and planning you do to make Read for the Record a success. For the first time ever, we are awarding 8 schools and organizations for their stand-out Read for the Record celebrations! Read on to find out more about the different categories and this year’s winners.
Read for the Record District of the Year Award
Broward County, FL
A supporter of Read for the Record since its beginning 14 years ago, Broward County is one of Jumpstart’s longest-standing partners for the campaign and has the widest participation within a single county. Year after year, we are delighted to see their huge celebrations and special guest readers, ranging from athletes to their superintendent!
Best Community Celebration
Hoover Intergenerational Center and USC Jumpstart members, CA
Inspired by the community members that appear throughout Thank You, Omu!, a real life police officer, doctor, and dancer from the Southern California area were invited into classrooms to read to students and take part in learning activities. This event was even covered by Univision, Telemundo, and more news media outlets!
Best Exercise in Gratitude Award
Smith Elementary School, GA
Using the themes of Thank You, Omu! as their inspiration, the students at Smith Elementary showed gratitude to their cafeteria staff and the warm meals that they prepare each day by creating a beautiful banner with personal messages of thanks.
Bringing the Story to Life Award
Mississippi Public Broadcasting & Belhaven University Theatre Department, MS & Mississippi Literacy Association
In Mississippi, some students from Bellhaven theatre department came to act out the story of Thank You, Omu! as it was being read aloud. No element was left out – even the delicious aroma of Omu’s stew was brought to life by the clever use of some white scarves!
Best Book Discussion Award
Northside School District, San Antonio, TX
We were totally wowed by the online book discussion that Northside School District hosted on November 7th! Teachers and students were invited to join a Twitter Chat discussion of Thank You, Omu! and were provided with different prompts in both English and Spanish to make the conversation even more accessible. Check out the Twitter Chat to see heartwarming (and silly!) videos of children discussing the themes of the book, like this!
Excellence in Bilingual Reading Award
Pines Lakes Elementary, FL
We loved seeing this snippet of the interactive bilingual reading that was done at Pines Lakes Elementary in Florida. Asking questions while reading is an excellent way to build language and comprehension skills! This was an especially great lesson for dual-language learners.
Setting the Scene Award
Dexter Elementary School in Shelby County, TN
To help their students get excited about Read for the Record, Dexter Elementary transformed the school hallways into scenes from Thank You, Omu! with gorgeous 3-dimensional paper art! This truly set the scene for a wonderful celebration.
Best Sing-Along Award
Cannaday Elementary, Mesquite School District, TX
This Thank You, Omu! sing-along was made extra special with the addition of colorful scarves to mimic stirring, yummy slurping sounds, and playful body movements. This was a great activity for the young readers to help integrate learning and play!
When people say readers are leaders, this is they type of engagement that sparks the love of literature! These examples demonstrate that a community of readers produces the next generation of readers, and it takes a concentrated effort to incorporate active and social learning activities across all curriculum fields. This year, it will look and feel very different, but I am sure that the strong network of educators and community partners will create beautiful memories for all involved, and build capacity in the classroom and beyond.