World Read Aloud Day, #WRAD, recognized this year on February 7, motivates children, teens, and adults to celebrate the power of words. This global literacy movement is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people.
Celebrate World Read Aloud Day by grabbing a favorite text and reading out loud. Have students bring in (or look up on a tablet or device) their favorite book, magazine, script, blog post, newspaper article, or other text. Ask each student to choose an excerpt to read to the class. Additionally, hold a classroom discussion about the power of literacy and how to share literacy with all.
Spread the power of reading by doing one of the following activities in the classroom:
EDUCATE – Have several read alouds in the classroom throughout the day and talk together about the importance of global literacy, marking this as a special day of reading! Looking for texts? Find links to a range of quality fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles on the NCTE Children’s Book and Poetry Awards webpage. Celebrate #WRAD and the African American Read-In together using the texts from this Bookshop link. (NCTE and independent bookstores will receive a small commission from purchases made using this link.)
ADVOCATE – Spread the word about World Read Aloud Day and the Global Literacy Movement within the school by hosting a school-wide read-aloud event. Make posters in the classroom advertising and informing the school and community about the event. Construct bookmarks with students with information about the day and tips for reading aloud to their peers. Need to advocate for using specific texts in your classroom? Visit NCTE’s book rationale database, providing important tools for educators and school librarians to use in selecting and defending books.
INNOVATE – Promote World Read Aloud Day by creating public service announcements, then share students’ projects using video chat, blogs, Glogster, and websites. Learn more about creating public service announcements in this blog post.
World Read Aloud Day asks everyone to celebrate the day by grabbing a book, finding an audience, and reading out loud. What will you do to celebrate?
Lisa Fink is an NCTE staff member, a former elementary school teacher, and a current university instructor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She can be reached on Twitter at @fink_girl.
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