Any Peloton riders reading? Just like the leaderboard helps the best of us pedal a little faster on the bike – the Read to Lead Leaderboard is motivating students to get reading! 

Amanda Flanagan, 5th grade teacher says it best “My favorite moment in using Read to Lead is when a student came in on a Monday after the weekend and said “Mrs. Flanagan, I moved us from 25th to 24th on the leaderboard when I finished the last game! They were playing over the weekend because they wanted to reach Millionaire Status!” 

So what is Millionaire Status and why are Middle Schoolers talking about it? 

The Million Words Read Challenge is game-based learning challenge that encourages middle school students to read, plus rewards them with prizes and a class party once they read 1 million words together! 

So how does the challenge work?

Every interactive learning game that each student completes on the Read to Lead platform adds to their collective words read count as a class. The more games they play (and words they read), the closer they get to achieving their goal of 1,000,000 words read. Reaching millionaire status as a class not only gives them serious bragging rights but also earns them certificates, student prize packs, and a class pizza party to celebrate the achievement together!

Create Friendly Competition

Nothing motivates kids quite like friendly competition.As students work through the literacy games, they get to see their progress in real-time on the leaderboard that ranks them against other classes in the nation. 

Trust us – when your students see that Mrs. Smith’s class down the hallway is just ahead of them on the leaderboard, they’ll be scrambling to play Read to Lead games during every free moment they get!

“Read to Lead brought the students together for a common goal. They wanted to see who they were competing against on the leaderboard from around the country, and it made them feel connected to something bigger, ” said Crystal Starr, 6th grade teacher. 

Promote Collaboration

The Read to Lead Million Words Read Challenge isn’t just about reading – it’s about accomplishing something together, growing together, reading together. It gives students the opportunity to share in success and help each other get there. 

“The Million Words Read Challenge showed my students that when we all give our best effort as a collective, we can achieve such a huge goal.” — Holly Crider, Graham Middle School

Celebrate Success

What better way to motivate end-of-year reading among your students than with a little incentive? When your class collectively reads 1 million words, they will receive a special delivery of student prize packs which include Read to Lead backpacks, t-shirts, water bottles, and more! In addition to that, every student gets an official certificate recognizing their hard work and effort to achieve Millionaire status. As a cherry on top, you’ll also receive a celebration gift card to spend on a class celebration party (whether virtual or in-person). 

Ready to Accept the Challenge?

The Million Words Read Challenge runs from the 18th of January to the 30th of June, 2022, so there’s still time to sign up. So far this school year, students have read over 56 million words and counting – will your students join them?

Sign up for free and assign your students their first learning game to put them on the path to becoming millionaires today!