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March starts at the end of next week and that means my school is gearing up for March is Reading Month! Obviously, as a reading interventionist, Reading Month is one of my favorite times of the year! I’ll take any opportunity to show students that reading can be fun!
During March is Reading Month, National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s birthday is on March 2nd and Read Across America week is March 2-6. However, you/your school can choose to celebrate RAA any week in March to better meet the needs of your class/school.
Here are 10 Awesome Activities you can use to celebrate this month all about READING!
1.One School, One Book– With this program a book is selected for the whole school to read and each student gets a copy to take home and read with their family! Then, the book is discussed and explored at school as well. This helps to form that strong home-school connection. To pay for this, the website suggests using Title 1 funds or having a fundraiser, with the proceeds being used for the program.
There a couple other ways this could be done, if you don’t want to sign up for the program. If your school holds a book fair, the money raised from that could be used to by the same book for each student to take home and read with their family.
The other option is not to send the book home. If your school has poor parent participation, the book could be read as a school. There would be a schedule for chapters to be read each day. Then, special activities could be planned around the book. Make sure the book selected is one that will hold the interest of students K-5! Some ideas include: Charlotte’s Web, The Chocolate Touch, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Frindle, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, The One and Only Ivan
2. Guest Readers- The sky is the limit with this one! The guest readers could be students visiting other classrooms, staff in the school, parents, or, even, community members. This could be set up for students during their library time or it could be scheduled for in the classroom. You could do this activity for as little or as many days as you want during the month.
Furthermore, you could make your Guest Readers into Mystery Readers, too. You could either give clues about the reader who is coming for students to guess, or have the reader wear a disguise when they read and students guess after who the reader was.
3. Dress-up Days- If your district has a theme for Read Across America week, use it to create dress-up days for the week. If there is no theme, the school could create one (maybe based on the book the school is reading 😉) or just do a Dr. Seuss theme. Make sure they are easy enough that everyone can participate if they choose to without having to buy anything.
4. Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)- Have a time where the whole school stops what they’re doing and reads. For the younger students, the teacher can read aloud to them. This can be a one day event or done multiple times during the month. I suggest doing it for 15-20 minutes. That way it won’t interrupt the day too much and at least a couple picture books or chapters can be read.
5. Library Storytime- This is a great month to have someone from your local library come visit. They can come read a book or do an activity with students. Then, they can talk briefly about what is offered at the library and pass out library card applications for students to take home.
6. Arrange an Author Visit- A lot of times local authors are available and willing to come visit schools to talk about and promote their books. They may read an excerpt, talk about the process of getting a book published, and more. Many authors have websites with their contact info. Reach out to one or a few. You never know what can happen!
7. Have a Bookmark Design Contest- This can be done in each classroom or during art class. Students will design a bookmark on paper and, then, it can be voted upon. The winning bookmark can be copied and passed out in the library!
My idea is to separate into K-2 and 3-5 for this and have the voting take place to get a winner in each class. Then, the winner from each class will get a small prize, maybe a book. Next, the winners can either be voted on by school staff or parents with an online vote through school social media. Finally, there would be 2 winners: 1 for grades K-2 and 1 for grades 3-5!
8. Favorite Book Day- Have a favorite book day in the classroom where everyone brings in their favorite book to read! I have done this and my class loved it! At some point throughout the day, I found time to have every book read. I read a book or two during morning meeting, after recess, and at the end of the day. Then, we, also, read books in small groups. That way no book was left out! If it is a chapter book, only read a chapter or two. It may get students interested in picking up the book to read the rest!
9. Have a Book Tasting- I have not done this one, but have read some great posts about them! We Are Teachers has an article sponsored by Penguin Young Readers about how to do this called Expand Your Readers Palates With a Book Tasting.
10. Buddy Readers- Pair older grade classes with younger grade classes to read together. The older students could choose a favorite picture book to share, vice versa, or both. Watching this in action will tug on your heart strings! And both older and younger students enjoy it!
Just writing this post got me excited about March is Reading Month! I really want my students to see just how fun reading can be and encourage them to read every day and I’m sure you do, too! With these 10 awesome activities, I know we can do JUST THAT!
Please let me know in the comments below which ideas you try or add any of your own that have been hits in the past! If you’re interested in finding more fantastic read alouds, read my post 8 Books for Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day or if you need help financing more books for your classroom library, check out Top 10 Ways to Build Your Classroom Library on a Budget.
