Reading is a slam dunk for third-graders
Contest partners with Final Four in area schools
Some of Burchett Elementary’s third-graders gathered in their school library bright and early Monday as the schools advancing into the literary version of the Sweet 16 bracket were announced. The kids cheered as they heard their school logged enough time with books move on in the Read to the Final Four competition.
Burchett is among the 189 schools participating in the reading competition leading up to the NCAA Men’s Final Four competition in Houston. The library was already full of energy by 6:15 a.m., and students had pom-poms in hand awaiting the announcement. A group of student dancers also gave a performance for cameras and parents stationed nearby.
Read to the Final Four is organized for Houston-area schools by the NCAA Men’s Final Four and the Houston Local Organizing Committee. Schools are entered into a competition for who can read the most. Schools earn points based on a formula calculating the average minutes their students spend reading. The schools with the most points advance.
Read to the Final Four began in September of 2022, and the school bracket seeding the top 68 schools was posted in January. Next Monday the bracket will shrink again.
“We know that with our youngsters, competition motivates,” said Lupita Hinojosa,
Spring ISD superintendent. “When we were invited to participate, we said ‘absolutely.’ ”
She said the competition plays out differently on a schoolby-school basis. Some classes will have dedicated time for students to stop everything and read, Hinojosa said.
Read to the Final Four takes place in whatever city hosts the Final Four, with Houston last hosting in 2016.
Houston-area third graders have already broken the record for minutes read by any Read to the Final Four host city since Atlanta in 2020.
As of Monday, the total minutes Houston-area students logged reading for the 2022-23 year was about 35 million — equating to more than 66 years, a spokesperson with the organizing committee said.
“We’re competing with each other in the classroom, with the classes, then with the school, then with the district,” Hinojosa said. “However you can keep that competition going, the more kids want to do it.”
The grand prize is $5,000 for the school with the highest reading totals, and the second, third and fourth place schools win $2,000, said Dorita Hatchett, senior director of community relations at the Houston Local Organizing Committee. The competition will conclude at George R. Brown Convention Center, where the top four schools are invited to Fan Fest on March 31.
The NCAA Men’s Final Four will be from March 31 to April 3 at NRG Stadium.
Kennedy Elementary School reported students checking out an increasing number of library books since the start of the competition, and McGown Elementary School had a student vs. teacher basketball game for their top readers.
“They’re taking it really seriously and they’re having fun,” Hatchett said.
She said those who are eliminated from the bracket are still encouraged to keep reading and counting totals.
The first time Houston hosted Read to the Final Four, it only incorporated Houston ISD schools, but now there are 11 participating districts.
About 6,800 third graders participated across 68 Houston schools in 2016, with Dogan Elementary taking first place.
“If you can fall in love with reading, enjoy a great book, you will be a reader forever,” Hinojosa said.