Lower School Students Read More than 9,000 Books for This Year's Book Challenge
March 31, 2025
In celebration of ESD’s 50th anniversary, our littlest Eagles challenged themselves to read 50 books! Some of our students went above and beyond as 11 lower school students read 69 books between November and April – that’s a lot of reading! In total, 185 students participated in the reading challenge, reading 9,688 different books by March 31, 2025.
Leading up to the challenge’s announcement, the Lower School read together as one community during their “Eagles, Grab a Book!” program. At the beginning of October, every family received a copy of Mysteries According to Humphrey, written by Betty Birney. While every student read the same book simultaneously, lower-school families followed a calendar at home to keep up with different chapters online, and homeroom teachers read parts of the book in the classrooms.
This year, “Eagles, Grab a Book!” kicked off the 50 Book Challenge, in which every student was challenged to read 50 books starting November 1. Lower-school students logged every book that they read independently outside of the school day, and they turned it into the Lower School front office for special recognition in morning announcements. The Lower School also highlighted students who completed the challenge with a Polaroid picture on the walls.
One first-grade student who completed the challenge said, “I liked completing the challenge – it was really fun! My favorite book that I read was called Going Places, and it was about someone who waited a long time to win his race car contest.”
Great job, Eagles!
