The 9th annual Reading Under the Lights event was held Friday at Parkway Field at Bradford Area High School.
The school district partnered with the ELF (Era’s Less Fortunate) Fund of Bradford for the family favorite event, which was attended by nearly 70 families in two sessions.
“Families excitedly walked through the gates, carrying blankets and clutching their books, eager to find a spot on the turf to cozy up and read,” said Heather Bell, organizer with the school district. “Children were able to pick out multiple books to add to their home library, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the ELF Fund.”
When everyone was settled onto the field, it was time for 20 minutes of reading fun.
“Research shows that reading to and with your child offers five major benefits. Reading together will strengthen relationships, provide new experiences, increase vocabulary and communication skills, improve concentration, and help to develop a life-long love of reading and learning,” Bell said.
She continued, explaining that dedicating 20 minutes a day to help a child read fosters skills that students will use throughout their education.
“Did you know that a child who reads 20 minutes each school night, for a total of 3,600 minutes during the school year, will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days? That’s incredible and what a huge impact it could have on a child’s success throughout school and life,” Bell said.
At the event, each family received a sealed envelope containing the special book for the event — “My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World” by Malcolm Mitchell. The envelopes were opened when it was time for the bedtime story, and it was read aloud by celebrity guest reader Chelsea Schwab — swim team coach at University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and board member of RISE, Rising Leaders of Bradford.
Bell described the book as a heartwarming story of a little boy who was reluctant to read and struggled to find books and stories that he enjoyed, but he soon found that sometimes the very best stories come from within ourselves, in our own hearts
