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One of my favorite times of the year is Read Across America. I know that part of the purpose is celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss, but I love the excuse it provides me to step back from my normal schedule and simply read in classrooms. This year, I will be reading across our District in six or seven schools.
Sometimes I know what classrooms and what grade levels I will be reading in, and other times, I just allow them to surprise me with where I will be assigned. Since I am a former Special Education Teacher, I am often assigned to read in special day classes serving students with severe disabilities.
Before I head out to a school, I pack a bag with books. All the books I bring with me are specially chosen. I want the books to be the just right ones for the classes that I will be reading in. Since many guest readers, pick from the stack of Dr. Seuss books, classes may hear the same books over and over again. So, it is additionally important to me that these be books that teachers and students have not necessarily heard of before. Often, they are new releases or ones that have come out within the past year.
Every year, I also pick one book that I will read to every class whether it is a kindergarten class or a fifth grade classroom. This year, I decided that Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown would be the book that I shared with every class. So far, so good. In one classroom, I had students that had multiple disabilities and were unable to speak. However, I was able to get them to ROAR with Mr. Tiger throughout the book.
By the time you are reading this, it will be World Read Aloud Day. Another perfectly wonderful reason to read aloud with students. I wish everyone the best in reading aloud for any and all reasons.
