This past week we celebrated Read Across America week like many elementary schools around the country. We put our own spin on it and included some really diverse texts. Some of the books we read were books on inclusion of others and kindness. We were also learning about different rights and responsibilities of citizens so we incorporated some deeper texts as well.
We put out a flier for our students that included a week of simple activities that we would be doing. Sending home this the Friday before got the kids excited for the upcoming week.
Day 1: Reading Craft Activity
For our reading craft activity, we created these Elephant Bookmarks that had tassle tails! The class LOVED them and they were able to put their own spin on them. I had read the tutorial on RedTedArt and then I created this elephant template that I could just print out on colored card stock. The class loved the craft and I laminated before we added the tassels. This helped them to be more durable.
Day 2: Slippers and Book Share
This was so simple! Students were able to bring slippers and a book to share. They always love wearing their slippers at school, and hey enjoyed setting aside a time where they could just read with a friend. The giggles and happiness was fun to watch, especially when it involved reading!
Day 3: Wacky Tacky Day
This was another simple but fun day at school. We read good books and the class dressed as Wacky as they could! They wore mismatched clothes and wild hairstyles….the sillier the better!
Day 4: Fluency Fun
My class LOVES to do Readers’ Theater type activities! They love to practice their parts and then present them to the class. This year, we did a few different “plays.” This one was the first that I tried as partners. It was Green Eggs and Ham found here. After they practiced, each partnership was able to pick their favorite page to present to the class. Then we did a whole class readers’ theater about the Lorax that was fun for everyone.
Day 5: STEM Activity
On Friday, we wrapped up the week with a book and a STEM activity. We watched a read aloud of the book called STICKS and then students had to use popsicle sticks to build a bird feeder. They used the STEM activity sheets included in this STEM bundle. The class was familiar with this style STEM activity because we do several each month! It as a lot of fun the a great way to round out the week!
If you are looking for a STEM freebie to do with your class, you can grab this one in our Free Resource Library here.
It was a fantastic week! We would LOVE to hear what you do for Read Across America Week!
~Heather and Stefanie
