World Read Aloud Day or BUST!

I am SUPER EXCITED about World Read Aloud Day!  I began planning it about a month ago.  I first begged  contacted a couple of authors to skype with us and then sent out this email to my staff, K-12.

Dear Staff:

For World Read Aloud Day, March 6, I’m hoping to be able to share a variety of read aloud experiences  with students K-12 from many different teachers and staff members from all 3 of our schools.  How will we do this?

I’m looking for volunteer readers!  If you would be willing to share a story or a portion of a story with a group of students on March 6, please let me know.  (Please let me know the time as well so I can put together a schedule and match up classrooms and visiting readers.)  If you would prefer to be videoed reading your selection, I’d love to do that as well.  (Videos will allow you to read aloud to many more students!)

I’m looking for classrooms!  Please let me know if you’d like to schedule a visit (or several visits) from a reader (or even a group of readers!) for your classroom.  Let me know the times you have available and I’ll connect readers with classrooms.

What should you read?  I’d like for you to pick one of your favorite books to share or a passage from one of your favorite books.  We’re talking 5 minutes or less!  I’d also like for you to share why the book is special.  (Example:  I could read a portion of Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and share that it’s special to me because my 2^nd grade teacher gave me a copy at the end of the school year.)  Picture books, chapter books, non-fiction books, biographies….any type of book is great as long as it’s school appropriate, of course. 

What if you don’t like to read aloud?  I’d still really like to have you participate, so grab a favorite book and at least let me take a picture of you holding it….  I’m looking for 100% participation school wide for this one.    

I want our students to know we are not just teachers who ask them to read because it’s a school required activity.  Students need to see us as life-long learners and readers who do so because it’s an enriching and engaging activity.  Students also need to know that it’s not just the Librarian who reads.  All teachers are reading teachers… If you’re not a reader, we need to talk.  J

Thanks for your help in advance!  March 6^th is going to be an amazing day!  (We already have 3 different authors scheduled to skype in our library!)

The response from teachers has been good, but I'll have to admit...I thought everyone would want to participate.  I mean EVERYONE!  All teachers, grades K-12.  (I know, you're shaking your head...I always think the best of everyone and my crazy plans!)  So yeah...not everyone is participating, but it is STILL GOING TO BE AWESOME!  (I'm not even going to mention the teacher who I couldn't take a picture of with a book because they don't read at all. Ever. *sigh*)

Oh, and guess what else?!

It's state testing this week.  Yep. Our ISTEP testing will be Monday through Thursday.  

That has put a slight kink in my plans but nothing we couldn't handle.  We are forging onward and will celebrate WRAD on Wednesday and LOVE IT!

Planning and scheduling across 3 schools under one roof has been a bit daunting.  Thanks to my super post it notes, we pulled the schedule together.  

The big yellow notes are the first round of classrooms that wanted readers to visit.  The small sticky notes are volunteer readers.  The pink notes are my author skype visits.

After taking this picture, I added several more classrooms to match up with readers and now we're pretty much booked for the day!

Because of our unique situation of K-12 under one roof, I was able to match up quite a variety of teachers with classrooms as well as buddy up some middle school classes with elementary ones.

As I put together the display in my library for our middle/high school skype sessions, I noticed a Star Wars theme I hadn't really thought about before.  

We are super excited to be skypeing with:

Tom Angleberger:  

all 6th graders

and

Gae Polisner:  2 sessions: 

10th grade class, 11th grade class

Our 1st graders will all meet together to skype with Ame Dyckman, author of Boy + Bot.  I'm so excited to "meet" her after all our talks on Twitter (and my son's Boy+Bot birthday party theme).

It is definitely going to be a day to remember for Rossville Schools.  I hope that having it in the midst of our state testing will bring some fun and relaxing times to students when they really need it the most.

Stay tuned for a follow up post about all the awesomeness of #WRAD13!