Here are the Read Across America ideas I have gathered. I didn't get a lot of
responses so I searched the archives and found a few cute ideas and added those as
well.
1. Last year we had a Seuss film festival - a little different twist on the day.
Actually it ran for a week and classes could sign up for one or more showings of a
variety of offerings. There is an hour long DVD on Seuss' life and career. The
others were just the usual videos of many of his books. I would give a little intro
and context for the work. I also had a timeline to help explain how things fit.
Projected onto "big screen" to give it a movie feel. It was well received - and
easy to do . . .
2. I work in a high school and am the LM coordinator for the district. I have
arranged for a high school student or students to dress like the Cat in the Hat and
visit all our elementary schools to read to the kids. We purchased a costume
several years ago. The high school kids love to do this. We also had a birthday
cake and cupcakes set up on a table in the cafe last year. Kids could have a piece
if they filled out a little quiz on Dr.Seuss. There was a rocking chair for kids to
sit in and read Dr. Seuss books. High school kids love Dr. Seuss too!
At the elementary/middle school level, there was a door decorating contest for each
classroom with a Dr.Seuss/birthday theme. Each elementary school does their own
thing as well.
3. At our school I am organizing a "read-a-thon" using Heifer International's "Read
to Feed" program. The money the kids raise from sponsors who pay by the book,
pages, or minutes goes to purchase animals that are given to needy families
primarily in third world developing nations, but also some in the United States.
It's a great way to promote and encourage reading and serve a good cause. They are
working in teams of 3. The team finds folks to sponsor them and will target which
animals to purchase (ie: flocks of ducks at $20 a flock or a $60 pig, etc.). I
haven't decided whether we will ask for sponsorships by the page - for example: $1
per page or by the minute: $5 per half hour. We will hold the "Read to Feed a Thon"
on March 3. The teams will assemble and each team member in turn will take a 30
minute (M/HS) or 15 min. (elem) reading shift. The team member will sign in on his
shift and document the number of pages read. We will see how long the teams can
continue to read!
, non-stop, up until 9:30. The team that reads the most pages for the longest time
will win and receive a prize. all the money collected by the teams will be donated
to Heifer to purchase the animals each team targeted.
Here are the websites you can check out for more info:
www.readtofeed.org
www.heifer.org
The Heifer organization is a private, non-profit organization that has been around
for about 60 years. It not only gives animals to needy families, but also has a
unique "pass it on" feature where the family receiving the animal agrees to pass
its first female offspring to another needy family, thus the gift keeps on giving.
4. I've never done this before...we just got videoconferencing equipment in our
libraries about 2 months ago, but our tech person sent me this site:
http://www.twice.cc/read/
We are going to see if our teachers want to sign up to do it...we'll see how
successful it is!!
Information from the website:
TWICE annually organizes a special celebration of the national NEA event “Read
Across America” by providing the opportunity for schools in the continental United
States to connect using two-way interactive video to both read to and be read to by
another class.
5. Last year I asked teachers at all grade levels to have students draw a picture
(their own picture, not a copy from the book) of their favorite Dr. Seuss story,
and write a few lines about why that was their favorite. I made up a simple form
(on standard paper) with half the space open (for their illustration) at the top,
then lines for writing at the bottom. I put the words "My favorite Dr. Seuss book
is:___" at the beginning of the lines to start the writing process. There was a
simple border all around (happy little books). I made a master copy for each
teacher, along with a letter to explain the activity. At the bottom was a space for
their name, grade, and room #. Each class could submit the best two drawings. One
(5th grade) student was recommended by the teacher to do the cover for me - a
birthday cake for Dr. Seuss' 100th birthday. I made sure all the classes had some
books available but most kids already knew their favorite. Teachers also read some
aloud, and I re!
ad Red Fish Blue Fish (we also had a fish guessing contest).
Most of the submissions came from primary grades, but we had several good ones from
upper graders. Some primary teachers did it as an assignment, while the upper grade
teachers offered it as an option. Each student whose work was submitted by their
teacher received a Dr. Seuss bookmark. Winning drawings (we had about 30) were
glued onto different colored construction paper and laminated. I made a Title page,
Table of Content, and Index. The Table of Content stated the name of the book and
the student illustrator's name, and the page it was on. The Index listed just the
titles (Cat in the Hat was the most submitted, of course, but we had a good
variety) and all the pages they were on - I tried to scatter them. I even cataloged
it and put a barcode on the back (teacher check-out only). Then the "book" was
bound using the binder machine. I shared it during story time and read a few of the
selections. I plan to use it again this year and teach parts of a book to the
primary chil!
dren.
6. We are having a contest which incorporates "Library Lovers Month" with "Read
Across America" at our library. By homeroom, every time a child reads a book and
sends a paper with their name, homeroom, book title, author, and number of pages,
they receive 25 mileage points. If they include a short summary and opinion of the
book, they receive a bonus 50 mileage points. The lower grades (K-2) can submit a
picture about the book in lieu of a written summary. The books must be on their
grade/reading level. We are traveling from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento,
California by way of US 50. We have placed maps for each grade in the library so
they can see their progress. The contests runs the entire month of February and the
winning class will be announced on March 1. The prize is an ice cream party and
movie. Competition is fierce! One 4th grade class with 27 children read more than
80 chapter books in the first week and a half! The teachers are even participating.
7. One year I had the A-Cat-amy awards. I had all grade levels vote for their
favorite books. From the results I made categories and put the answer in an
envelope. We had an assembly to announce the winners.
Example: The nominees for the best picture book enjoyed by 1st graders the nominees
are (I would list the top 3) open the envelope and announce the winner. I had
different categories for each grade level. Series, subject etc.
8. With one class we read “And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street”, and the
kids created exaggerated tales and pictures of what they had seen.
9. In our Middle School, the kids are bringing something to read (book, magazine,
newspaper, etc.) and something to eat, and we're reading and eating during our
language arts classes. We are also doing a traveling story again this year (we
tried it for the first time last year, and it was a lot of fun).Students sign up a
few days before the event. I start the story by writing one stanza (Dr. Seuss
style) and read it over the intercom. Then the students come into the library one
at a time and add stanzas to the story. We had quite an amazing story last year!
I'm looking forward to this one again.
Marjorie Pettersen
Library Media Specialist
East School
215 Hogan Drive
Torrington, CT 06790
860-489-2303, ext. 235
controller53@excite.com
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