ELE: Read Across America Activities

[K&L DeFrank <defrank@VOICENET.COM>]

A few messages have asked about read Across America activities.  I thought I
would share what we are doing at my school.
I invited some adults from our community to be Guest Readers. These include
district administrators, board members, boro council and the mayor, the
police chief, the fire department, and a few professors from the education
department of our local college. Some students form our junior high student
council will be coming, also. Some will be coming at 9:30, and some at 10:30
in the morning.  I will have maps of our building with each classroom
marked, and some appropriate picture books for those who do not bring their
own.
Each class is making tall, red and white striped hats to be worn on
Thursday. I bought red crepe paper which we will tie into bow ties. To
complete the ensemble, we have asked the students to wear black shirt and
pants (or dark colors).
For lunch we will dine on eggs and ham -not green - I can't convince the
lunch ladies that green is a good idea.
In the afternoon will be our assembly. I have eight teachers who have agreed
to dress up as a book character. They will each come out on the stage, tell
the students who they are, show them the book their character is in, and
remind the students that they can find this book at the library. Some of the
characters are Arthur, Viola Swamp, Miss Frizzle, The Cat in the Hat, and
Captain Underpants. Should be a lot of fun!
The second part of the assembly will be a play put on by three of our third
grade classes.  One of the teachers adapted the book Hooray for Diffendoofer
Day for this.
The final part of our assembly is a drawing for some prizes I have collected
over the past year. I have four pairs of Grinch slippers that were $15, but
marked $1.50 for clearance. I have five felt Cat hats from Clown Alley ($5
each), one Cat scarf, one Human-I-tees Dr. Suess T-shirt left over from a
fund raiser we had, two microwavable dishes with lids with Arthur on them
(clearance at ShopRite), and six paperback books I had left over from anothe
r contest. Someone has promised me a cake with the Cat on it, but we will
see.
To make this drawing work, I have a large box with a slot in the top. As I
see each class this week, the kids are writing their names on old
circulation cards and putting them in the box (one entry per student). At
the assembly I will shake the box, cut it open, show a prize, and draw a
name. If the student is absent, or I can't read it, I set it aside and
choose another.  I did this last year and the kids surprised me with what
good sports they were.  I've been reminding everyone that I have 18 prizes
and there are 600 kids, so not everyone will win.
Last year the PTA helped me do an evening event. We invited Guest Readers,
had a speaker for the parents, and refreshments in the cafeteria. It was fun
but a lot of work. We are not doing this again this year.

Hope this helps you. Please let me know if you have any questions.


Karen DeFrank, LMS
Dorothy Bullock Elementary School
Glassboro, NJ, US
defrank@voicenet.com

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