Showing posts with label World Read Aloud Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Read Aloud Day. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

{#sol15} World Read Aloud Day 2015 4/31


hosted by Two Writing Teachers


Today was World Read Aloud Day. I love getting to spend the day reading aloud with students and listening to them read aloud too. I heard poetry, Elephant & Piggie, The Pigeon, Dr. Seuss, Chester, Battle Bunny and many other funny books being shared aloud today.

A few classes were also able to have video chats with other classrooms outside of our community. That's always a treat. We read aloud and were read to as we shared our love of reading. 

In a few classes we also read some Spanish. We read the book My Name is Gabriela. It's a bilingual picture book biography of Gabriela Mistral, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the story we learned about her childhood. She and her friends liked to sing songs and rhymes at recess like Los pollitos dicen. I remembered that we have a Spanish nursery rhyme book in our library. I found it and realized this song is quite popular so it must be on Youtube. It was fun to watch the video and attempt to sing along with with the 'pio pio pio' part.



I don't always get to spend nine class periods reading and being read to. I found it quite a wonderful experience aside from one tech glitch for our first video chat. World Read Aloud Day makes my heart happy.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

World Read Aloud Blogging Challenge #4


This is the fourth week of the World Read Aloud Blogging Challenge and our job this week is to make a video of us reading aloud or write about what we will read aloud on World Read Aloud Day. So I don't have any copyright issues, I am going with the written explanation.

Strangely enough, I had not been thinking much about what I would be reading. I have spent a lot of time making it possible for other people to read aloud to our students. Five of our classes will have Skype visits with the authors Erica PerlSarah Albee and Mina Javaherbin. So I will definitely be listening to some quite a bit of reading, but hadn't really planned for reading aloud myself. Fortunately, I am part of this challenge so now I have been thinking about it. 

Most likely, I will read I Can Read With My Eyes Shut (or at least a portion of it) on morning announcements as time allows. Pre-K will come and I think I will read Punk Farm and Plant a Kiss with them.




I will also look for any opportunities to read aloud throughout the day. It will be jam packed with a music program rehearsal, Skype visits, and who knows what else. I can't wait to see what the day will bring. What will you be reading aloud?


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

World Read Aloud Blogging Challenge #3


This is the third week of the World Read Aloud Blogging Challenge and our job this week is to provide a view into our reading life. 

Reading is an integral part of my life and I do not end a single day without having read something. Reading informs me, stretches me, comforts me, and entertains me. I am thankful that authors continue to share their gifts with all of us. I am taking a page from Katherine Sokolowski's blog and have created a video to show the snapshot of my reading life. Enjoy!

A Snapshot of My Reading Life







Wednesday, February 20, 2013

World Read Aloud Day Blogging Challenge #2

Last week I started the World Read Aloud Blogging Challenge. I didn't quite know what we were going to do, but now I have some pretty cool plans put together. We are going to celebrate on March 1st and March 6th-8th to spread out the fun. We have conferences on the 4th and 5th or we might have celebrated then too. On the 1st, we have 7 Skype visits scheduled with classrooms all around the country. On the 6th we have Skype visits scheduled with Erica Perl, Sarah Albee and Mina Javaherbin. On Friday another class will also get to visit with the author Abby Klein and maybe a few more classes. In addition staff and students will take the chance to read aloud to each other. It should be so much fun. I can't wait.

For this week's post, I need to finish five statements as I would have when I was ten and then again as I would answer it now. Here goes...

At ten: I think everyone in the world should read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Snowy Day.

Now: I think everyone in the world should read A Monster Calls and I Want My Hat Back.

At ten: If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be my mom.

Now: If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be Nick Podehl or Jim Dale, but mom would be cool too.

At ten: When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is Dickon in The Secret Garden.

Now: When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is Hagrid from the Harry Potter series.

At ten: The genre that takes up the most room on my bookshelf is realistic/historical fiction.

Now: The genre that takes up the most room on my bookshelf is realistic fiction.

At ten: The last book I wish I’d written or inspired me to write my own story is Little Women.

Now: The last book I wish I’d written or inspired me to write my own story is A Monster Calls.

These were actually difficult to answer and I think they would be different on any given day, but it was fun.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

World Read Aloud Day "Read It Forward" Blog Challenge #1

I am participating in the "Read it Forward" Blog Challenge sponsored by LitWorld. This week's prompt is What do you think is special about reading aloud?

The best thing about reading aloud is that it is almost always a shared reading experience. Typically someone is reading aloud to or with at least one other person. Sharing a book with someone else brings people together.

Since I am a teacher librarian, I am often the person reading aloud. I love having the chance to bring a book to life for others and see their faces light up. Sometimes I do the funny voices or add sound effects, but even a straight unadorned reading can touch hearts.

If you haven't read with anyone lately, make time for a reading date with someone. It's definitely a win-win.

This year for World Read Aloud Day, we will be reading aloud at school and I plan to have some classes Skyping with authors and/or other classes around the country. We had a great time last year for WRAD and hope to follow it up with a wonderful time this year too.

To see what we did last year, click here and here.



Tuesday, January 29, 2013

World Read Aloud Day - March 6

I can't believe it is almost time for World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) again. I loved it last year. LitWorld, a non-profit literacy organization sponsors this event. They encourage people to "celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another." Last year we were able to Skype with so many wonderful people. We read with students in a few different states and several fantastic authors shared their books with us too. If you want to see some of the fun we had, please click here and here.

Hopefully, we will be able to do a lot of reading with people from all over. It should be pretty exciting. Now I guess I need to get busy planning. If you want to participate, you may go to LitWorld to sign up and take advantage of their resources. Also, Kate Messner, author of the Marty McGuire books and many others, has a great blog post that helps teachers and librarians connect with authors. Between these resources and some reading buddies within the building and/or from the community, WRAD can be an awesome literacy event. I hope you can join in the fun.



Thursday, March 8, 2012

World Read Aloud Day Continues

The fun and learning just keeps rolling on here at our school.  Today two of our fifth grade classes got to visit with author Michael Scotto.  He shared about his chapter books and read one of his picture books to us.




We will have to watch the book trailer for his chapter book sometime soon.  It sure makes me want to read the book.


Next, one of our Pre-K classes had a great visit from some students at Cooper Elementary in Burlington, WI (led by @pageintraining).  They read us these really funny books:





Then, one of our first grade classes was lucky enough to visit with Michael Scotto too.  They had a fun time listening to his book and asking a ton of questions.



 We even saw a picture of his very own tornado dog.


World Read Aloud Day just keeps going, and going, and going, and going. Tomorrow another Pre-K class will have a Skype visit with some 5th grade students that will read with us. On Monday, second grade will visit with the author of the I Spy books, Jean Marzollo, and by then, all of the grades will have had a visit of some kind. I love it when there is an event that gets us trying new things and working with people from other places. These kinds of visits get us pretty excited about reading.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

World Read Aloud Day is Finally Here!

For WRAD we started off our day with a poem on announcements. One fifth grade class also got to Skype with Alan Silberberg.  That was a real treat. He read from Milo: Sticky Notes & Brain Freeze and even read the beginning of a book that hasn't yet been published.  It seems like this new book is going to be pretty awesome. I wish I had caught a picture of the kids laughing. They had a wonderful time.




I will keep adding more pictures and information as the day goes on.  It should be a great day!



Just finished sharing Dust Bunnies and Elephant & Piggie in the lunchroom to first through fifth grade as they came through. Fun times. One of our subs even helped and she was an awesome reader.

One of our first grade classes got to meet Linda Urban.  She has written some excellent chapter books and this very fun picture book called Mouse was Mad


Her read aloud was really fun.  



The kids had a great time making mad faces at the beginning and happy faces at the end just like mouse.


Some of our first graders read aloud to book characters.


One of our 3rd grade classes even got to visit with Mr. Sharp's class in Michigan. We talked about our favorite books and had some fun read alouds too.


The final Read Aloud activity of the day was when our whole fourth grade Skyped with Mr. Schu's first and second graders. We read poetry to them and they read Elephant & Piggie to us.  It was a lot of fun.  Whew.


I love, love, love World Read Aloud Day!!!  And the fun is just beginning. Some of the classes weren't able to Skype today, so we have more tomorrow, Friday, Monday & next Wednesday.  Thanks to all the authors, teachers, and students that read with us today.  We loved meeting you all. 




Sunday, February 19, 2012

Skype Visit to Romania

A few weeks ago I had the good fortune to be able to read with Cristina Milos's class in Bucharest, Romania.   I had a fantastic time with her students.  They were really sweet and listened so nicely.  I loved visiting with them and I hope to meet with other classes around the world in the future.  Reading aloud with students is a privilege and I can't think of many things I enjoy more.  Cristina made a video of our time together on their wiki.


Coming soon is another day for reading aloud.  LitWorld is promoting World Read Aloud Day.  Many other people and organizations are joining in to spread the word such as School Library Journal, Shannon Miller and John Schumacher at Change the World Story by Story and Donalyn Miller.  I hope thousands of people get involved and read aloud on Wednesday, March 7th.  I know I am looking forward to having authors Skype with our students, meeting other classes online, and even having our superintendent come to read with us.  It should be a fabulous day!