Mondays with Mike: Four Students. One Month. 350 Hours of Reading
Good Afternoon PCA Families,
This February something remarkable happened at PCA.
During our Lower and Middle School Read-A-Thon, students logged thousands of hours reading books. For a school that believes reading shapes the mind and the heart, that is something worth celebrating.
Four students—from Kindergarten through sixth grade—joined me on this week’s Mondays with Mike to share what they discovered during that month of reading. Together, these four students alone logged more than 350 hours of reading in February.
▶ Listen to this week’s 21-minute episode(Tap the player below or open it in your favorite podcast app.)
Key Takeaways
- Reading habits grow when students discover books they enjoy.
- Programs like the Read-A-Thon encourage students to explore different genres, find authors they like, and develop the habit of daily reading.
- Families play an important role in building a literary culture.
- Many students described reading at home, having books available, and setting aside quiet time to read as important parts of their routines.
- Consistent reading builds both skill and confidence.
- As students spend time with books, they strengthen vocabulary, comprehension, imagination, and the ability to think deeply about what they read.
- Schools help students expand their reading horizons.
- Programs like the Read-A-Thon introduce students to new genres, authors, and topics they might not otherwise explore.
- Readers become thoughtful learners.
- At PCA we want students to grow into lifelong readers who enjoy learning, thinking, and exploring ideas long after they leave the classroom.
In these final days of winter—with warmer afternoons and chilly nights—I thank God for the quiet but unmistakable signs of spring and new life.
Your children invested many hours in reading through our February Read-A-Thon, discovering stories and ideas that shape both imagination and understanding.
They are also reading deeply in their classrooms. These include whole books from classical to modern, plays, short stories, and poetry. Your children, led by thoughtful Christian teachers, are engaging with truth, virtue, struggle, and beauty through stories and literature. They are growing in both heart and mind, soul and spirit.
It is also encouraging to see how many families intentionally make reading part of life at home. You will hear some of those stories in the podcast as well as other insights below.
And in this season of Lent, as we approach Easter, many of us are also spending time reading and reflecting on God’s incredible love for His world, His great sacrifice for us, and the hope we have through Christ.
If you would like to keep the reading going this spring, be on the lookout for our Head of School Spring Reading Club as we read 1776 by David McCullough together between now and Memorial Day.
Good work on the reading–let’s keep it going!
Grace and peace,
Mike Runey
Head of School
Portsmouth Christian Academy
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