HOW TO RUN A WRITE-A-THON

Instructions on How to Start a Write-A-Thon in your school

1. Your students will be taking home two sheets a LETTER TO FAMILIES and a PLEDGE SHEET. On both of these, you must write in the dates of the Write-A-Thon before making copies.

2. We suggest that you go over the LETTER TO FAMILIES with your students first. This is an opportunity to discuss the larger mission, how your students’ imaginative fuel will help get books and author visits to Kids-in-Need. Use the enclosed PROFILE SHEET to help encourage compassion and generosity in your students, and to help them understand that their imaginations are powerful and will create the fuel necessary to get books to Kids in Need.

3. Go over the PLEDGE SHEET that your students will be taking home with them. The children will collect pledges from family, friends, neighbors -- a certain amount for each page they write. They sign up their pledges on the Pledge Sheet, including name, address, and pledge amount.

4. THE TEACHER OF EACH GROUP DEFINES WHAT CONSTITUTES A PAGE. This will vary from grade to grade. For the younger grades, it may vary depending on the time of year.

5. We suggest no more than two months for a Write-A-Thon. You set the date and make sure you write in those dates on the PLEDGE SHEET.

6. During the Write-A-Thon, we will be working with you to secure a FREE THANK-YOU AUTHOR VISIT at your school. (If we can’t secure an author in your area, we’ll set up a live interactive, web-based author visit – with many authors to choose from.)

7. Writing prompts are found on the KIDS FORUM page, which is being updated regularly. Feel free to use them! Encourage your students to send in their Fabulous First Sentences and mini-book reviews to be published on the KIDS FORUM page.

8. We will also feature your school on our web site on the PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS page and the HOME PAGE under Great Schools.

9. If you’d like, we will send press releases to local media telling them about the program your students are involved in!

10. PRIZES! We will have prizes for the kids who raise the most money and for those who write the highest number of pages even if they raise no money, rewarding the enthusiasm that come with quantity. Prizes may include signed books, CDs of XM Radio’s XMKids programming, etc ...

Teachers collect checks, made out to

KIDS IN NEED – BOOKS IN DEED and
send them to this address:
Attn: Nancy Smilowitz
Senior Director of Development
Office of the Dean College of Arts & Sciences
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1280

"Kids in Need - Books in Deed is a dynamic and innovative way to foster reading, writing, and compassion in children..."

--Robert Olen Butler,
winner of the Pulitzer Prize

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