World Read Aloud Day 2019

I love World Read Aloud Day!  For the last 6 years I connected my classes with classes around the country (and sometimes beyond).  I start planning in November/December and eagerly anticipate sharing books and stories with new friends.  These friendships have grown into other collaborations and I look forward to this event every year.  This year took on a life of its own, however.  I decided to take a quieter "stay at home" approach.



We celebrated World Read Aloud Day during our library times and as a school.  During library time, students were invited to read aloud in several ways:

  • On whisper phones to themselves.
  • To each other with books small and large.
  • To stuffed animals (or have stuffed animals and puppets read to them).


As a school, we celebrated together.  Our Reader Leaders planned and hosted a simple school-wide assembly.  At our assembly, our Reader Leaders interviewed several staff and students.

  • One student interviewed our gym teacher about the books he was reading.  We have been watching what he reads on his door.  He is reading about running marathons and nutrition for performance.  He revealed he is running a marathon this spring and he is reading about how to best prepare.
  • Another student asked a teacher about her favorite book.  She read the end of We Are All Wonders because she loves the message the book shares.
  • We also invited students to share.  1st graders had been writing book reviews in class.  They shared one with us.
  • 3rd-grade students were studying character and shared some of the personal connections they made to the characters in their books.       
  • We wrapped up the event with a guest appearance from our Joke Squad.  This group of 3rd-grade boys shares a joke with our school every Monday morning to get our week off to a fun start.  This started in our library when we were creating projects to make our world a better place (our #MakersOnAMission) They told jokes, made us laugh, and sent us out of the gym with big smiles on our faces.

Students and staff returned to classrooms to wrap up their day with a reading activity.  Everyone read - teachers read to classes and students read to students.

I returned to the library with a class of 4th graders to enjoy Ann Braden reading aloud the first chapter of The Benefits of Being an Octopus, one of my favorite books of 2018.  Students listened and doodled (as an experiment to see how the effect of doodling impacted their understanding).

Ann Braden joins us via video.

Students have the option to write/draw while listening.

Students reflect on their experience, whether drawing/writing helped or hindered understanding.


My takeaways

As disappointing as it was to not reach out into the world and make connections, students DID enjoy connecting with each other and sharing reading experiences.  I will look forward to making connections with others again, but our little "stay at home" adventure was a satisfying way to spend World Read Aloud Day (week).

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