BP Oddo works with NYC’s Department of Education to bring reading challenge to Island 4th graders in a new way
Borough President James Oddo is pleased to announce his office will recognize this year’s “Readers Are Leaders” to encourage reading among all 4th graders on Staten Island. With the current challenges due to COVID-19, students will participate in this event using the Sora app, which is a free book-lending program with access to hundreds of books. For this program, a curated collection of books for the 4th grade reading level and below will be picked by the office along with representatives from Sora. While this is an adaptation of the event, it still gives students a chance to celebrate the joy of reading with their school or on their own.
"Readers Are Leaders continues to be one of our favorite events with school age children," said Borough President James Oddo. "While we have changed the program this year to meet the needs of at-home and blended learners, we feel strongly that the spirit and joy of reading isn't something that should be postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19. If anything, we need the adventure and happiness that reading brings now more than ever. Books inspire us, they improve us. Books take us on a journey. I'm thrilled to call Sora and the DOE partners as we navigate this revised reading challenge together and encourage all fourth graders to participate."
This year’s “Readers are Leaders” program challenges all 4th grade students in Staten Island’s public, parochial, and private schools to participate through their school, or individually. Students are expected to read a minimum of 6 books in five weeks available to them on the app during the program which will run from March 8th - April 9th. Book report submissions are due by April 12th at 5p.m. and can be submitted on our website here: https://www.statenislandusa.com/readersareleaders.html.
Watch the Borough President’s kick-off video here: https://youtu.be/CPJl1JbxT5M.
The challenge was started 24 years ago by then-Councilman Vito Fossella before being taken over by the Borough President’s Office. Since its inception in 1996, 4th graders have read more than 690,000 books for the annual challenge.
Borough President James Oddo is pleased to announce his office will recognize this year’s “Readers Are Leaders” to encourage reading among all 4th graders on Staten Island. With the current challenges due to COVID-19, students will participate in this event using the Sora app, which is a free book-lending program with access to hundreds of books. For this program, a curated collection of books for the 4th grade reading level and below will be picked by the office along with representatives from Sora. While this is an adaptation of the event, it still gives students a chance to celebrate the joy of reading with their school or on their own.
"Readers Are Leaders continues to be one of our favorite events with school age children," said Borough President James Oddo. "While we have changed the program this year to meet the needs of at-home and blended learners, we feel strongly that the spirit and joy of reading isn't something that should be postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19. If anything, we need the adventure and happiness that reading brings now more than ever. Books inspire us, they improve us. Books take us on a journey. I'm thrilled to call Sora and the DOE partners as we navigate this revised reading challenge together and encourage all fourth graders to participate."
This year’s “Readers are Leaders” program challenges all 4th grade students in Staten Island’s public, parochial, and private schools to participate through their school, or individually. Students are expected to read a minimum of 6 books in five weeks available to them on the app during the program which will run from March 8th - April 9th. Book report submissions are due by April 12th at 5p.m. and can be submitted on our website here: https://www.statenislandusa.com/readersareleaders.html.
Watch the Borough President’s kick-off video here: https://youtu.be/CPJl1JbxT5M.
The challenge was started 24 years ago by then-Councilman Vito Fossella before being taken over by the Borough President’s Office. Since its inception in 1996, 4th graders have read more than 690,000 books for the annual challenge.
