Let’s Read, OCPS!, a district-wide reading challenge, will run from January 27 to April 30, 2025, and aims to encourage students to read for enjoyment and develop a lifelong love of reading by contributing to the district-wide goal of reading 20 million minutes.
About the Challenge
All OCPS students, employees, families, and community members are encouraged to participate in the Let’s Read, OCPS! challenge by individually reading at least 500 minutes throughout the challenge. Participants are encouraged to read whatever they choose for enjoyment and to log their minutes in Beanstack, a LaunchPad application that motivates and rewards students for reading.
How to Participate
Students and employees are encouraged to log their minutes in Beanstack, which can be found on LaunchPad, in the Library Research Tools folder. Students and employees can earn badges and view their progress throughout the challenge by opening the Let’s Read, OCPS! challenge on the Beanstack Challenges page. To learn more about how to log minutes in Beanstack as a student or employee, see the resources below:
More information about the Let’s Read, OCPS! challenge and how to participate can be found in this letter to families. Families and community members are also encouraged to read and log their minutes in Beanstack.
- Orange County Library System (OCLS) Card Holders: Use this Beanstack link if you have an OCLS library card. Note that the OCLS Beanstack is not tied to our OCPS challenge, but you can model reading and logging behavior and track your minutes there.
- Non-Card Holders: No time to sign up for a library card? No problem. Families and community members can use this link to log their minutes on the Re-Imagine Communities site.
Participants can share about their reading journey using #OCPSreads on social media platforms.
How to Read
Participants are encouraged to read whatever interests them. Students and employees may check out a book from their school’s media center or an eBook, audiobook, or magazine on Sora, the district’s electronic library, accessible on LaunchPad in the Library Research Tools folder. To learn more about Sora, see the resources below.
Employees, families, and community members can frequent their local library to borrow reading materials of interest to them. The Orange County Library System (OCLS) has 15 branches throughout the county and a vast collection of eBooks, audiobooks, and magazines available via Libby. To learn more about the OCLS and its services, see the resources below:
Not sure what to read? See below for our recommended reads.
How to Promote
Employees, especially teachers, are invited to promote Let’s Read, OCPS! to their students. All reading counts, including academic and independent reading during the school day. Teachers can easily log reading minutes for the entire class and help students reach their reading goals. In addition, employees can use the bulletin board kit or posters to promote Let’s Read, OCPS! and celebrate top readers. See the resources below for more information.
Families can promote reading at home by reading with their child(ren), taking their child(ren) to their local library, discussing and asking questions about their child’s book, and competing against each other for the most minutes or books read. Additional conversation ideas can be found in the resource below:
Community members can promote Let’s Read, OCPS! through their social media platforms using #OCPSreads. Local business owners interested in promoting the challenge may contact Re-Imagine Communities to discuss partnerships.
How to Celebrate
Schools and students can be rewarded for participating in the Let’s Read, OCPS! challenge through prizes sponsored by Dr. Phillips Charities. More information about prizes will be posted in the coming weeks.
Let’s Read OCPS Partnerships
The district is grateful to wonderful partners who promote and celebrate our community’s love of reading.
- City of Orlando
- Dr. Phillips Charities
- Orange County Library System
- Re-Imagine Communities