I'm interviewing Cass today. He's my second son, and he's nine years old. He's going to do something very interesting on Friday. "What is it Cass that you're going to do on Friday?" - "Uh, we're going to do something called Run for Reading, and that's how we sponsor money for our school." - "Oh, so you're raising money." - "Yeh, we're raising money." - "And, so it's like a running competition?" - "Uh, no. It's not a competition. We're just raising money for our school so we can get recess materials and different kinds of books." - "Oh, okay. And where are you going to run?" - "We're going to run in front of the school. And the laps, they're two hundred meters long." - "Oh, okay. Have you done it before?" - "Uh, yeh. We've done it for four years, kinder through third." - "And has it been successful?" - "Yeh, it has." - "Now, is it just the children who run?" - "No. Well, sometimes. But, during kind of like the middle the teachers come in and then they start running. Or usually they come in at the beginning." - "Is it funny to see the teachers run?" - "Sometimes." - "Now, who's the best teacher at running?" - "Um, he's called Mr. Hickenbottom, and last year he ran forty two laps." - "That's fantastic." - " It's a great way to raise money. Now how do you get sponsors?" - "Um, you ask your neighbors to get, - well, you give them a piece of paper, they sign it, and you ask them if they could sponsor money." - "Fantastic. So they give you like a dollar per lap, or twenty five cents per lap, or something like that?" - "Uh-huh." - "How much money, do you remember, did your school make last year?" - "Um, I think they made two thousand one hundred fifty something." - "That's great for schools. Yeh. So are there other ways that the school raises money?" - "Um, there's one way that doesn't include activities. It's when you, it's like the same as run for reading, but you just have a paper that time, and you go and ask if they would like to buy cookies or pies or cakes. And if you sell them, then that's how you raise money for school." - "Right. And do you get an award or a reward sometimes for getting sponsorships?" - "Everybody gets a small ribbon that says "I love running", and it says, and well it's different kinds of colors, and it's a rainbow kind of color, and it shows a boy and a girl running together." - "Right. And how about when you sell cookies, do you get any reward?" - "If we sell, let's say, fifty cookies, we would get, let's see, we would get, let's say, a really cool big ball that could bounce really high." - "So, there's a variety of things you can win?" - "Right, well good luck for Friday Cass, thanks a lot." Grammar notes. Related vocabulary: sponsor, to raise money, laps, kinder(garten), a reward, a ribbon. Exs: The popular drink company sponsored us. The money helped our cause. We need to raise money for the Red Cross. There are lots of needs to be met. We did ten laps around the field, and then fell to the ground, exhausted. My little boy started school this year. He loves Kindergarten. They got a reward for finding the lost kitten. When she wears a ribbon in her hair she looks so pretty.

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