In 1995 the Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation (CEPF) identified a need and an opportunity to promote literacy, strengthen existing reading programs in schools, encourage parents to share in their children's reading, and enhance community participation in the education of our children. Working together with its founding partner, the Calgary Flames, the Reading...Give It A Shot! initiative was born.
Now more than ever, literacy is viewed as the single best investment for enabling children to develop skills that will benefit them for a lifetime. In addition to foundational skills, this program also opens the minds of elementary school students to a world of knowledge and imagination.
Today, CEPF, the Calgary Flames, the Flames Foundation for Life, ConocoPhillips Canada and other community partners work together to continue to encourage students to discover the joy and benefit of reading. All students can participate regardless of reading level. Books, newspapers, magazines or content on the internet, can all count towards the individual student's literacy goals.
Participating is easy!
The Reading Game
Teachers have the flexibility to choose from a variety of literacy strategies most appropriate for their individual classrooms. The goal for students, no matter what the strategy, is to collect the entire set of trading cards.
Strategies that teachers may choose to use, but are not limited to, are:
The Warm Up
Teachers are free to determine how the cards will be distributed to their students based on literacy strategies they are using in their classrooms.
When students "score" a reading goal they receive one trading card for every one hundred minutes read. Completing 2,400 minutes of reading will ensure that a student will receive the entire set of trading cards. Teachers are welcome to modify the number of minutes required for each trading card for students in the younger grades or to meet individual learning needs of their students. Teachers are also welcome to use the Student Tracking Sheet that CEPF has provided as a part of your package.
A second alternative allows teachers to challenge their class to develop a process for students to earn each trading card as a group. Earning the trading cards through teamwork and perseverance could be the theme. From the whole class earning a trading card each time a literacy goal is achieved, to accolades for taking personal risks such as reading aloud in class for the first time, or being a leader of literacy in the classroom, students and their teacher together can determine the route to distributing the trading cards.
Make this an individual expedition for your class. Students can determine their own literacy goals as an individual journey to becoming a more confident reader and writer. Just signing a book out of the library for the first time could be a goal for one student, while reading a chapter book in a week could be a goal for another. Setting personal goals helps students develop a commitment to literacy and a sense of personal accomplishment.
Used as a home literacy incentive, teachers are welcome to encourage students to log their time spent reading at home. Whether it be reading aloud to younger siblings, replacing computer game time with computer reading time or simply curling up with a good book (or e-reader!), students and teachers together can determine what is required for each individual student to "earn" each trading card.
Schools make the playoffs by having a "full house" of student involvement. Schools who have 100% of their students participating in Reading...Give It A Shot! are eligible to receive recognition, thanks to the generous support of the Flames Foundation for Life.
Schools can receive:
A Calgary Flames player and Harvey the Hound visit to your school
A Calgary Flames jersey
Tickets to a Calgary Flames home game for a student and their parent/guardian
If you have any questions or require additional information regarding Reading...Give It A Shot! please contact firstname.lastname@example.org
Thank you for being a part of Reading...Give It A Shot!