At Bullock school we've been doing Read Across America since the NEA proposed the
idea 11 years now.
I'll list what we do.
To get ready I do a couple of things.
1. I buy each child a small thing - usually a pencil. http://www.raymondgeddes.com
is great for this. And this year they added a free pdf file of a set of bookmarks,
so everyone is getting a sheet.
2. I buy ten or so "gifts" for a drawing. In the past these have been book fair
left overs, or Seuss stuff I've found in my travels. This year I have 12 stuffed
toys and matching books from Kohl's - Yertle, Horton, Fox, and Pop.
The week before Read Across America I have the kids in my classes write their names
on pieces of paper and put them in the RAA jar. I draw names for the prizes.
One year the local grocery store donated a Seuss cake and one class won it.
In the past I have done the drawing at the assembly (see below). Due to the nature
of this year's assembly I am doing the drawing all week after our morning
announcements. Besides, I can' stand to see the faces of the kids who don't win.
(I'm such a softie)
By the way, I use my book fair profits to pay for the prizes.
3. In my classes we watch my powerpoint and read a Seuss Story.
To see the powerpoint go to http://www.glassboroschools.us
Choose Bullock School from the drop down menu at the very top left corner.
Choose TEACHERS from the black bar.
Find Mrs. DeFrank in the list.
Click on Dr. Seuss
I have a video of Horton Hatches the Egg (Billy Crystal narrates!) and a few others
I try to alternate. A person can only read aloud so many Seuss stories before the
tongue gets tied!! This year we've been watching the trailer for Horton Hears a Who
at http://www.hortonmovie.com
We talk about shelf placement, too.
4. The week of Read Across America each day we have a special dress up activity.
Monday - My Many Colored Days - wear your favorite color
Tuesday - Green Eggs and Ham - wear green
Wednesday - Cat in the Hat - wear a funny hat
Thursday - Horton Hears a Who - Who Hair
Friday - Fox in Socks - crazy socks
In the past we have dressed up as the Cat on Friday with red and white stovepipe
hat (given to us by Saturn car dealer) red bow tie (crepe paper) and black shirt
and pants.
These things we do on March 2(or as close as we can get)
1. The cafeteria staff does Green Eggs and Ham for lunch. It's an Egg McMuffin sort
of thing and the egg patty has been sprayed green.
2. Guest Readers visit. The PTO canvases these people. The first session is at 9
and the second at 9:30. The readers visit the classrooms and share a story. Some
people read at both sessions. I think we have about 50 readers. I used to do this
myself and it's a wonderful thing that the PTO does. Typical readers are the mayor
and the boro council, school board members, school administrators, Little League
coaches, and PTO moms.
3. The afternoon of the big day we have an assembly that I put together. We have
had a variety of things for this. This year we have a professional theater troupe
coming to do "Stone Soup and other Stories". PTO paid for this.
In the past we have had various celebrities read a Seuss story -
a. Reg Weaver, president of the NEA (a friend of one of our teachers)
b. the principal
c. a state senator
d. Miss New Jersey
Some classes have done short (3 sentences!) oral book reports, similar to those on
Reading Rainbow.
I have a very nice teacher who dressed up as Captain Underpants and comes running
thru the gym. He leads the cheering. We've cheered for reading "Give me an R!! Give
me an E!! Give me an A! Give me a D! What's that spell??" Very cute when you have
the tiniest students hold up big cards of those letters.
We've had classes do reader's theater, recite a poem about reading, sing a song....
One year we made collected money for a group that buys farm animals for third world
communities. One of my wonderful teachers made a powerpoint of the book Beatrice's
Goat and I read it to the whole group.
I wish I had made a list each year and kept it. We update the website each year
with new photos and the old ones are gone. It would be nice to see what we did each
year.
Hope this helps you!
Karen DeFrank, LMS
Bullock School
Glassboro NJ
kdefrank@glassboroschools.us
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