How to Observe ‘Read across America Day’ in the Class

‘Read across America’ is a fairly recent phenomenon in the history of America’s literary movements. In 1997, the National Education Association came up with the idea of creating a day to celebrate reading. Dr. Seuss being one of the most widely celebrated children’s writers in American literature, it was only befitting to commemorate his birthday as ‘Read across America Day’. Thus, March 2 sees the largest celebration of reading in the history of the United States of America.

It is important to motivate children to read because reading is undoubtedly one of the best educators and companions for life. Research has proved that children who are motivated to take up reading as a pastime do better in school than those who consider reading to be just another chore. Reading opens up a world of possibilities and fans the desire to know more. So how can ‘Read across America Day’ be observed so that children are motivated to love reading?

Reading by Moyan Brenn

Classroom Activities

Three to nine are the formative years in any child’s life. It is during their kindergarten to 3^rd grade that they have to be motivated to read and take up reading as a hobby. Activities and worksheets can play an important role in motivating them. Browse the online space to download suitable reading activities and worksheets for 1^st to 3^rd grade kids that will introduce prominent authors and books to them with a fun approach. Here are a couple of activities that will encourage the kids to read.

Kindergarten-1^st grade activities to encourage reading

Get plenty of clothespins and distribute them equally among the class. Have the kids write a consonant each on the clothespins they got. Vowels will eventually fall short so you get as many clothespins as the number of students in your class and write a vowel each on them. Collect the clothespins and distribute the consonant clothespins equally among the class. Give a vowel to each student. Put up a clothesline from one end of the classroom to another. Call one student after another and ask him/her to form a word using any of their letters. Have them clip the clothespins arranged as their word on the clothesline and make way for the next student. 

The words they make may not necessarily be meaningful, but they must have a proper pronunciation, an example being chank, teck, feg, bord, etc. Have the students read all the words aloud in unison after everybody has finished clipping their words on the clothesline. Though this is an activity for kindergarteners, it can be tweaked to make a great 1^st grade activity if you challenge them to use all the letters they got or ask them to make a synonym of a certain word (this can be asked only when you’ve studied their letters carefully) or a word where the vowel is placed last (such a word may not sound coherent always), etc. Improvise on these activities further to make them suitable for higher grades.

Reading activities for 2nd-3rd grade

How can we write an article on ways to observe ‘Read across America Day’ without having an activity based on the man himself, Dr. Seuss? Inspired by Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, this is a classroom activity that’s just right to observe the Day. Divide the class into two groups and give them a magnetic sheet each along with markers. Have a group write 20 random verbs on the magnetic sheet while the other group gets to write 10 random common nouns and 10 adverbs. Cut out the words and distribute the words equally among each group – 10 verbs, 5 adverbs and 5 nouns. Challenge the groups to make a story using the words they got. To increase the difficulty level, challenge them to use all the words. They will have to arrange the words on any magnetic surface and form their story. Isn’t that a fitting tribute to Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham which consists of just 50 different words?

Other Miscellaneous Ways to Observe ‘Read across America Day’

Reading Across America in Milford by CT Senate Democrats

• Invite athletes and actors to issue challenges to students of your class/school
• Invite an author/poet to read to your class
• Read to your class
• Take your class to any literary figure’s house that has been converted into a museum
• Arrange a ‘book donation’ drive for the needy