It’s time once again for the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge as we count down the days to this special week-long event of sharing stories with one another across the miles. My friend and super librarian, Matthew Winner, has outlined the challenge on his blog.
The World Read Aloud Day “Speak Your Story” Blogging Challenge begins February 9 and runs through March 8. If you choose to take the challenge, each week you will be asked to write a post in response to a prompt or question (outlined below), for a total of 4 posts counting down to World Read Aloud Day.
Each of the prompts addresses the WRAD theme “Speak Your Story.” Speak Your Story encapsulates that simple yet effective way that we connect with others by sharing our stories aloud. Your voice is powerful and when a story is shared a bond is made.
For week 1, we have been exploring the question:
What is your favorite book to read aloud or to hear read aloud and why?
My Answer:
I have so many favorites, but right now one of my absolute favorite stories to read aloud is Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. Reading this story alone is fun, but when you read it aloud to a class of students, it is pure magic. With each turn of the page, the students get more and more vocal about Sam and Dave’s decision to change directions in their digging. The students can of course see the massive treasures that Sam and Dave are missing, and they get so frustrated that they miss every single one. What I love most about reading this book aloud is the many conversations that are sparked by the mystery and the frustration in the story. I honestly think that students could talk about this book all day long and still come up with some off-the-wall idea that we haven’t thought of yet. I’m so happy that this book just won a Caldecott honor award. I know magic isn’t one of the criteria for winning, but this book is filled with read aloud magic.
For the past week, my students and other friends have shared their own favorite read alouds via a Flipgrid. I invite you to listen in to what we all have to say about our favorite read alouds, and feel free to add your voice too!
On March 4th, we will celebrate World Read Aloud Day with LitWorld. This special day “calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories”.
For teacher librarians and other educators, it has come to be a week-long celebration of sharing stories through Skype and Google Hangouts. This year, these connections will happen on March 2-6.
Connecting through stories is always such a rewarding experience for our students. Students often discover that we are all very much the same even though we are different.
Shannon McClintock Miller and I invite you to post your schedule to our shared Google Doc and start making connections for this special week. You may even discover a long-time collaborative partner through this one experience.
Be sure to check out the LitWorld site for more information on planning for World Read Aloud Day. They even have a special classroom kit with ideas for schools.
If you are interested in connecting with others on this day, please add your name, schedule, and ideas to the informations in the Google Doc that we started. This will begin to fill up with others around the world as they want to connect their students and schools too. We plan to celebrate throughout the entire week of March 2-6th.
We think it’s important to know that there’s no “right” way to plan for World Read Aloud Day. Whatever you decide to do will be the right plan for your school and your students. Whatever you do, your life will be richly rewarded with the power of spoken word and voices connecting together across the miles to lift up our right to read!
In the words of Kate DiCamillo, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, “Stories Connect Us”. We can’t wait to connect students around the world through story.
Our final day of Read Across America and World Read Aloud Day was once again filled with special memories.
We read Crankee Doodle with Meghan Nels and her students.
Matthew Winner and I got creative about how to read Open This Little Book with our students.
Cathy Potter and I had fun reading I’m Bored and letting our students show the many ways you can say “boring”.
Shawna Ford, Shannon Hyman, and I all found students to read parts of a reader’s theater of One Cool Friend. We loved hearing voices in 3 states reading the story.
Stacy Ford and I had a great time being Elephant and Piggie with our students as we read I’m a Frog.
Randie Groden and I had some impromptu skyping as I had a class cancel! Several 5th graders who were checking out books gathered around the projection area to meet her first graders and read Same, Same but Different. Sometimes the unexpected is fun!
We ended our WRAD week with a connections between Shannon Miller and Barbara Terracciano along with author, Tom Angleberger. He read aloud the part of Crankee in Crankee Doodle, and it was the perfect ending to our week.
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t read aloud. Every day is read aloud day.
When I think of World Read Aloud Day, I think of connections.
Kate DiCamillo, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and 2-time Newbery winner, says “Stories Connect Us”. In Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, all of the characters are connected to one another through strands of yarn as the main character knits sweaters for everything and everyone in sight. In Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw, we learn that we really are all connected in the world by common strands of life even if those strands might look a bit different based on our cultures, locations, and beliefs.
World Read Aloud Day is about all of these things. Even though we should read aloud every day, World Read Aloud Day raises our awareness of the importance of reading aloud. It reminds us that when we read aloud, we connect. When we read aloud, we expand our world. When we read aloud, we learn that the world really isn’t as big as it seems. We are all united through power of story and spoken word.
This year, our planning for World Read Aloud Day/Week began in December. My wonderful friend and collaborator, Shannon Miller, created a Google Doc for educators around the world to use as a space to share their schedules and ideas. The two of us shared the doc through blog posts, twitter, facebook, and conversations. Over 3 months later, the doc is filled with conversations that each tell a story of a connection between multiple groups of students. When you look at this single document, you know that students, teachers, teacher librarians, and families around the world are being impacted by powerful experiences of hearing stories read aloud, participating in conversations about books, and building connections to new friends around the world.
Our school:
engaged in 36 skype sessions
made 50 connections in these sessions
met new friends in 22 states and 2 other countries
Along the way, we built a Google Earth Tour using Google’s tour builder. This tool allowed us to quickly add pins to a world map, add photographs and videos, and write a summary of each skype session and what we loved and learned. I love how at the end of the week, we instantly have documentation that allows us to remember, reflect, and celebrate the fun that we have had during this week.
Today, I received several thank you letters from students. Organizing this many Skype sessions is exhausting. I won’t lie about that, but the rewards that come from the hard work make up for all of the time I spent organizing this week. Receiving these letters reminded me why I advocate for World Read Aloud Day and why I believe in the power of connecting with one another through story. Thank you Litworld for creating such an amazing world-wide event.
Our skype connections continued today with 7 more fun read aloud experiences for our students.
Edie Crook Gastonia, NC
Okle Miller Tampa Fl
Cherie Smeltzer New Hampshire
Shawna Ford Texas
Jenny Lussier e Connecticutt
Wendy Garland Massachussetts
Shannon Miller Iowa
We started our day connecting with Edie Crook and her students in Gastonia, NC. We had fund reading I’m Bored and then saying the word “boring” in different ways.
Next, Okle Miller and I read aloud Same, Same but Different. Our kids had fun talking about what was the same but different about life in Athens and Tampa.
We did our very first skype with PreK today when we connected with Cherie Smeltzer and her students. They read Yes Day to us and we had fun thinking of what we would ask for on our own yes day.
Shawna Ford’s students read Mr. Tiger Goes Wild to us, and I read Same, Same but Different to them. We had a great discussion about the importance of reading picture books at every age. Shawna compared it to how Disney movies have something that kids understand but some deeper meaning that mostly adults understand. My kids really grabbed onto the idea.
Jenny Lussier and I had a blast reading aloud Crankee Doodle to our students. It is a hard book to read without cracking up! I loved how our students suggested great books to read.
Wendy Garland and I read aloud This is Not My Hat. Our students had a lot of opinions about what happened at the end. We had a great discussion about the term “just right” and how this book was chosen as a “just right” book for our skype.
I loved ending the day by reading aloud Flora & Ulysses to Shannon Miller’s students. We had to get a bit creative on how to show the comics since Shannon’s copy was checked out, but we made it work. The kids are all excited about the book and our copy that just arrived today was immediately checked out.
I can’t believe there’s only one day of connections left. Tomorrow has several fun and surprising moments in store. I can’t wait t end our week with some more great stories, authors, students, and librarians.
Today is officially World Read Aloud Day. We have been celebrating all week and will continue on Thursday and Friday. Today can only be described as miraculous! Here’s a look at our day.
We started by connecting with Donna MacDonald and her students in South Burlington, Vermont. Our students did a reader’s theater of One Cool Friend. We divided the parts up between our students so that voices in both states were helping to tell the story. Students got a chance to find out about state symbols and the weather, but we loved meeting all of Mrs. MacDonald’s library pets!
Next, we connected with Matthew Winner and his students in Elkridge, MD. We shared the book The Story of Fish and Snail by Deborah Freedman. We took turn reading pages. He had 1st graders who read the pages with him, while I had Kindergarten where I read the pages. Our students also had a chance to ask once another questions.
Next, we began connecting with several authors. Our first connection was with Anne Marie Pace. She is the author of Vampirina Ballerina and Vampirina Ballerina Hosts a Sleepover. During our connection, she taught the kids a great song about how a book is made and had them sing along.
Then, she read Vampirina Ballerina. It has so many interesting vocabulary words. On one page, she had the students stand up and dance with her to practice one of the ballet moves.
Another thing I love is when authors point out details in the illustrations and how they connect with the rest of the story. Anne Marie pointed out Vampirina’s final pose and how it was the same pose as her ballet idol posted in her bedroom.
Next, a very miraculous thing happened. We skyped with Kate DiCamillo! As you know, she has won 2 Newbery medals and has just been named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. A few weeks ago we were contacted by the amazing people at LitWorld with an opportunity to be in a multi-school Skype. I immediately said yes and the planning began. Most of our 2nd grade attended with a few 3rd graders. It was so inspiring. We started with a roll call of schools.
Kate shared a poem from one of my favorite poets, Joyce Sidman. Then, she started taking questions from schools. This was followed by some reading from Flora & Ulysses. The moderator also read aloud part of Kate’s first draft of Because of Winn Dixie, and I loved how Kate covered her ears because she didn’t want to hear how it sounded.
Kate took some more questions from schools and ended by having the adults at each school share what they were reading to students. When it came to me, I just had to tell Kate how I have read p. 130 of Flora & Ulysses numerous times to the students of Barrow and how “Expect the Miraculous” has become a mantra in our library and throughout our school. She turned to p. 130, found the part, and read it aloud. It was such a special moment (as you can see from my reaction at the end).
This was an amazing experience for our students. They were hanging on every word and sat attentively for 1 hour and 15 minutes! Our local newspaper was also in attendance to document the event. I can’t thank LitWorld and Candlewick Press enough for this opportunity. It was inspiring and definitely connected us with so many people through stories, which is Kate DiCamillo’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature platfrom. During this call, we connected with the following schools along with Kate DiCamillo:
Mason-Rice Elementary School Newton, MA
Minnetonka Middle School West Minnetonka, MN
Van Meter Community School Van Meter, IA
Saint Mary Catholic School Paw Paw, MI
Ducketts Lane Elementary School Elkridge, MD
American School Foundation Mexico – ASFM Monterrey, Mexico
Roosevelt Elementary Jamestown, ND
Later in the day, we connected with author Barbara O’Connor along with Sherry Gick and her students in Rossville, Indiana. Barbara read aloud from How to Steal a Dog.
Then, students in each state had a chance to ask her some questions. We learned about her 2 dogs, Martha & Ruby, as well as where the inspiration for the book came from. Mrs. Wright’s 2nd grade class loved connecting since they had just finished the book as a class read aloud.
Mrs. Stuckey’s class connected with author Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw and Shannon Miller’s students in Van Meter, IA. She read her book Same, Same But Different. We loved hearing her sing Kailash’s alphabet.
Then, she gave us a peek inside her art studio where we saw some paintings from her new book Luna and Me, which will be out in spring. We can’t wait to see this book in print! Students also got to ask her questions about her work. It was fun to see her thought process as the author and illustrator of the book, and we learned that she does both together.
We ended our day with the entire 5th grade skyping with author Tanya Lee Stone. She read to us from Almost Astronauts.
This was followed by a chance for students to ask her questions. They had several specific questions about the book, but we also learned how thorough Tanya is when she researches. I loved that she included that she uses the Internet to research, but that she makes sure she is using reliable sources. It was also fascinating to hear that books like Courage Has No Color took 10 years to write! That was a powerful statement after students were complaining about a 2 hour writing test.
I love World Read Aloud Day. I love sharing stories aloud, but even more than that, I love knowing that words are filling the air all around the world on this day and across this week. I love that people are using social media to publicly profess their love of reading, their favorite books, and their celebrations of their freedom and right to read. I love that stories really are connecting us to one another on this day and every time we share a story out loud.
Our celebration will continue for the next 2 days before we are off for spring break. We will continue working on a Google Tour that will show all of our connections with a summary of each one. Look for that in Friday’s post! Happy World Read Aloud Day!
We had another incredible day of connecting with classrooms and authors. At the end of the week, I will share our Google Earth tour that summarizes our entire week. For now, here are some pictures and videos from our connections today.
Erika Victor 3rd grade Berlin, Germany
Jennifer Reed Kindergarten Massachussetts
Heather Temske 4th Roswell, GA
Laura D’Elia 3rd Massachussetts
Christy Brennan 5th Pennsylvania
Shanon Miller Iowa
Shannon Miller 4th/5th grade Iowa & Author Deborah Freedman!
What a way to start the week for Read Across America and World Read Aloud Day. Our morning kicked off with about 40 guest readers (2 in every classroom PreK-5th). First, these readers gathered in the library to select books. Many thanks to Kim Ness for checking all of the readers in and Julie Moon for setting up our Signup Genius which kept us organized. They were full of energy and spent time connecting with one another, sharing stories, and getting pumped up to read to classrooms.
After a group picture, our 5th grade BTV crew escorted readers to classrooms and they got started sharing Dr. Seuss books, laughing, and learning with our students. It was so much fun to go around the school and hear Seuss words filling the air, seeing kids smiling, and hearing their laughter.
Following this, we started the first of 36 Skype sessions to celebrate Read Across America and World Read Aloud Day. We are creating a Google Earth Tour as we connect, so I will post that at the end of the week. For now, I’ll share some images and video from our week. Today, we connected with:
Okle Miller 2nd grade, Tampa FL
Crystal Hendrix Asheville, NC
Wendy Garland 4th grade Massachussetts
Jennifer Reed 3rd grade Massachussetts & Peter Reynolds
I’m participating in the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge. Each week, I will respond to a question along with many other bloggers participating in this global celebration of reading aloud. Our students, teachers, and families will also be involved with these questions each week as I invite them to respond through Flipgrids, Thinglinks, and more.
For the final week, I’m asking students, teachers, and families to raise their voices by reading aloud parts of their favorite books. We are using a Flipgrid to capture these read alouds because it gives students 90 seconds to read aloud. To get them ready, I made a Youtube video of myself reading my favorite part of this year’s Newbery-winning book, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuninated Adventures.
Kate DiCamillo’s writing speaks to me in so many ways, but this particular part of Flora & Ulysses has proven to be inspiration for our whole school this year as well as our library. We are expecting the miraculous every day!
Visit our Flipgrid to hear more readers share their favorite stories, and feel free to try out Flipgrid by adding your own.
Wow! I am so excited that Read Across America and World Read Aloud Day is here. Some miraculous things have happened since planning for this week started in December.
The shared Google Doc that Shannon Miller and I created has been very busy and growing every day.
I’ve been having countless conversations on Twitter, Facebook, and email to connect our teachers and students with authors and classrooms around the world. The global collaboration that has gone into this week is energizing, inspiring, and exhausting! I can’t wait to see all of the planning come to life next week. I know that there will be so many moments that will inspire and surprise us during the week. I’m also thinking back to last year and how the weather changed our plans! I’m hoping for global great weather next week so that all of our connections happen.
Here’s a look at our week!
On Monday, we will have about 50 guest readers from the community reading Dr. Seuss books in every classroom.
These are a few of the books we will share with libraries, classrooms, and authors around the world during the rest of the week.
On Monday we will connect with:
Okle Miller and her students in Florida
Crystal Hendrix and her students in North Carolina
Wendy Garland and her students in Massachusetts
Jennifer Reed and her students in Massachusetts along with author, Peter Reynolds
Jenny Lussier and her students in Connecticut along with author, Ame Dyckman
Nancy Edwards and her students in Seattle, WA
Shannon Miller and her students in Iowa
Kathy Schmidt and her students in Gwinnett County, GA
On Tuesday, we will connect with:
Erika Victor and her students in Berlin, Germany!
Jennifer Reed and her students in Massachusetts
Heather Temske and her students in Roswell, GA
Laura D’Elia and her students in Massachusetts
Christy Brennan and her students in Pennsylvania
Shannon Miller and her students in Iowa along with author, Deborah Freedman
On Wednesday (the official World Read Aloud Day), we will connect with:
Donna MacDonald and her students in Vermont
Matthew Winner and his students in Maryland
Anne Marie Pace, author
Kate DiCamillo, Newbery-winning author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Sherry Gick and her students in Indiana along with author, Barbara O’Connor
Shannon Miller and her students in Iowa along with author, Jenny Sue Kostecki Shaw
Tanya Lee Stone, author
On Thursday, we will connect with:
Edie Crook and her students in North Carolina
Okle Miller and her students in Florida
Cherie Smeltzer and her students in New Hampshire
Shawna Ford and her students in Texas
Jenny Lussier and her students in Connecticut
Wendy Garland and her students in Massachusetts
Shannon Miller and her students in Iowa
On Friday, we will connect with:
Meghan Nels and her students in Massachusetts
Shannon Miller (Iowa), Matthew Winner (Maryland), and Jesse Klausmier
Cathy Potter and her students in Maine
Shawn Ford (Texas) and Shannon Hyman (Virginia) and their students
Stacy Ford and his students in Texas
Randie Groden and her students in Massachusetts
Shannon Miller and her students in Iowa with author, Tom Angleberger
Whew! It will truly be an amazing week!
We are going to attempt to document our week as much as possible through pictures and videos. We are also going to work on a map of our virtual travels using Google Tour Builder. During each Skype, we will make sure to ask where are guests are specifically located. Then, after the Skype, I will pull up our Google Tour and we’ll add pins and details to the map. By the end of the week, I can’t wait to look at the whole tour and remember our travels.
For the next 3 weeks, I’m participating in the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge. Each week, I will respond to a question along with many other bloggers participating in this global celebration of reading aloud. Our students, teachers, and families will also be involved with these questions each week as I invite them to respond through Flipgrids, Thinglinks, and more.
For week 3, I’m asking students, teachers, and families to take pictures of their reading lives. They will send these photos to our Flickr account via email. Those photos will appear in the Flickr stream on our blog,
but I’ll also use them to create a slideshow of our reading lives.
Here’s a little snapshot of my reading life. It was hard to take just one picture, so I cheated and took a few!
My bookshelf
This is my bookshelf in our living room at home. Looks messy doesn’t it? That’s because my kids are constantly putting things on it and pulling things off. At the very top of the shelf you’ll find a few of my autographed books. I have so many that I had to put some in a boxes. Many more are sprinkled throughout the books on my son and daughter’s shelves. You’ll find books by Kate DiCamillo, Barbara O’Connor, Patricia Polacco, Jerry Pinkney, Aaron Becker, and Carmen Deedy (just to name a few). I love reading books aloud that have been signed by the author because I somehow feel a connection with the author knowing that their pen has actually touched the pages I’m reading. The signatures and dedications also hold stories of their own. When I hold an autographed book, I’m reminded of the story connected with meeting and hearing from that author.
My daughter, Alora, with her autographed copy of Mercy Watson
About 4 years ago, I met Kate DiCamillo at the Decatur Book Festival. My wife and I were expecting our first child in December of that year and we wanted to get a special book signed to her. At the time no one knew the name that we had chosen for our daughter. As I handed Kate DiCamillo a copy of Mercy Watson, I said Alora’s name to another person besides my wife for the very first time. The name became very real at that point. Kate DiCamillo stared at the name on the yellow post-it note and said, “Tell Alora what a beautiful name she has and welcome to the world.” When Alora was reading this book the other day, she saw that her name was on the title page. I shared the story of getting the book signed and what Kate DiCamillo said, and Alora said, “Wow! Thank you! That is so kind of her.” I love how our reading lives are filled with wonderful stories, but that those wonderful stories lead us to memories and stories of our own.
Alora’s bookshelf, age 4
This is my daughter’s bookshelf. It is filled with books about Disney princesses and Dora the Explorer, but it also has so much more. I love that we can share these Disney favorites with one another, but that we can also sit down and read books together like Creepy Carrots, Epossumondas, and Mercy Watson. Seeing stories come alive through her eyes makes me enjoy and appreciate them even more. Most of my reading life is spent reading picture books to my kids or reading books to share with students at school.
Anderson’s bookshelf (age 20 months)
Books often make their way from Alora’s room to my son Anderson’s room and back. Right now, I read with Anderson every night while my wife Denise reads with Alora or tells stories aloud. Anderson loves nursery rhymes like Hey Diddle Diddle and Jack & Jill. He also loves Goodnight Moon and Babies. Any books that are short, repetitive, with lots of pictures are the ones he likes to read. We often spend time reading the same book over and over each night until he moves on to something new. He has also stretched me to tune up my singing voice because he loves books that are songs. We are still reading/singing Little Drummer Boy, It’s a Small World, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands several nights each week.
Our school library is filled with so many different kinds of books, and this is another very important part of my reading life. It’s impossible for me to read every book on these shelves myself, but students bring these books to life for me in my own reading life by sharing what they are reading and enjoying.
A few books that our Barrow kids enjoyed!
I love that every day I spend time reading with someone whether it’s my own children or my children at school.
Kate DiCamillo, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and 2-time Newbery winner, says “Stories Connect Us”. In Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, all of the characters are connected to one another through strands of yarn as the main character knits sweaters for everything and everyone in sight. In Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw, we learn that we really are all connected in the world by common strands of life even if those strands might look a bit different based on our cultures, locations, and beliefs.
Expect the Miraculous 