As hundreds of students cheered, Seth Tibbetts, a fifth-grade teacher at Hampden Meadows, and Max Caro, 11, a fifth-grade student, pour the last bag of popcorn into the giant "thermometer" that is marked with the number of pages the students and other participants have read.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Bob Thayer

BARRINGTON

Once the students at the Hampden Meadows School started reading this winter, they couldn’t stop.

For each page that they turned in the million-page readathon that the school’s Parent Teacher Organization kicked off in December, a popcorn kernel was poured into a giant “thermometer.” When the final kernels were poured in last week, the school announced that the students — and their parents and teachers — had read 1,722,000 pages.

While adults did contribute to the grand total, organizers say the school’s 520 students accounted for the majority of the pages. The PTO is even offering to supply its plans for the program to other schools if they would like to try it.

Meanwhile, the popcorn won’t be going to waste. It will be popped at the Hampden Meadows book fair next Tuesday (fourth graders) and Thursday (fifth graders). Administrators also announced that the whole school will be going on a field trip to a surprise location to celebrate their literary achievement.