March Reading Madness!

Its our favorite time of the year at Bridge Boston Charter School – time for our annual Bridge Boston March Reading Competition! While March Madness is brewing across the country, but Bridge students are cracking open books to an even high-stakes contest: one centered on literacy, community, and creativity. 

What's is the March Reading Competition?

As students read, they report their page totals to their teachers, who track their progress on a school-wide spreadsheet. Despite winning both last year and the year before, 4th grade is experiencing some tough competition from the 3rd, 1st, and 5th graders. 

Reading-related events occur all around our school all month long. Students can read with Beardy the Bearded Dragon – a classic Bridge Boston experience, or can dress down in their pajamas for flashlight reading time. Students also have the opportunity to write stories in invisible ink and dress in all black like spies. At the end of the month, Bridge Boston will also host our very first Book Fair! Every single scholar will walk away with one new book to encourage habits of reading at home and to spark a joy of reading.

What Else Is Different This Year?

This year, there’s a strong focus on writing. Our favorite Detective S is back – a silly character generated last year to promote the reading competition in weekly installments. After watching each week's Detective S video, students can submit their own scripts for the following week's video. Each week, staff chooses a few scripts to come to life. Students get to be writers, directors, and actors alongside "Detective S" (Our Academic Behavior Support Special Educator, Sophie Schacht).

After watching the first video, the second one was written with contributions from BBCS scholars Norah, Riel, Journey, John, and Kevin.

Most importantly (to the students, anyways) – the prizes of this year’s contest have changed. While in the past, students received gift cards, this year, top scholars are competing for an out-of-school field trip.

Who’s Behind It All?

Behind the scenes of the March Reading Competition every year is our incredible Literacy Task Force – a grassroots group of teachers created during COVID-19. Their primary focus over the years has been to instill the Science of Reading curriculum at Bridge after they saw immense success in their own classrooms. This literacy curriculum prioritizes early screening and intervention to ensure our youngest scholars are set up for success long-term at Bridge and beyond. When students are given specialized instruction and intervention at a younger age, they are less likely to struggle later on. 

Alongside promoting and educating staff on the importance of the Science of Reading, the LTF has focused on supporting student writing. In the fall, they gave a Professional Development presentation on ways to approach writing instruction. Through researching curriculums, workshops, and connecting with new staff, the LTF is working toward a goal of stronger writing instruction consistent from K2 to 8th grade.

The March Reading Competition encourages our students to strengthen skills like creativity, critical thinking, writing, and media literacy, which are constantly becoming more and more important. Our Literacy Task Force and the Science of Reading are key players in ensuring our students are on track. At Bridge, we equip our students with resources to navigate not just school, but the life ahead of them.