Free Books for Kids on Read Across America Day
Teachers Can Promote Reading and Generosity on Dr. Seuss's Birthday
Feb 11, 2009
The NEA sponsors a day devoted to reading – Read Across America – which takes place on March 2, Dr. Seuss's birthday. When students celebrate a birthday, they have cake, a party, and presents, and the celebration of Dr. Seuss and reading can have presents, too. This activity would work well in any classroom, but it is particularly suited for gifted students where children tend to be strong readers with a lot of books at home.
Free Book Present Exchange on Read Across America Day
One of the most fun activities for students is an activity that naturally encourages generosity. This needs to be prepared before March 2, but the students will actually get the books on Read Across America Day.
Instructions:
First, students should have white lunch sack-sized paper bags that they can decorate with Dr. Seuss-types of art. Students can get ideas from Dr. Seuss's books, which teachers can lighten and re-size on the copy machine and let students color and glue to bags, or teachers can print free Seuss coloring book pages.
Teachers will need to save their example bags and perhaps have students make extra bags, as some people will be very generous with their book donations.
Teachers should send a note to parents (attached to the decorated bag) with students:
"Dear Parents,
On March 2nd, we will be celebrating Read Across America day. Our class is going to have a book-giving party, so everyone gets a free book that another student says is worth reading. I am requesting that your child bring any books that he or she is done reading to give to another student in our class. If you have multiple books to donate, that is even better, because some students will not have any books to donate.
Please make sure the books are:
- something your child is comfortable giving away forever
- something your child truly thinks another person will enjoy
- in decent condition (pages are not falling out, the cover is intact)
If you have additional books to donate, please send them with your child and we can put them in some of the extra gift bags in class.
Participating in this project is optional; your child does not need to participate."
When students bring the books to school in the bag, the teachers should set up a cute display. Even though some students will not bring books, everyone should be able to get a book. Many parents will send more than one book, and some parents will buy more than one book. If there are not enough books, the public library will often donate books from their used book store (which only sell for a few coins, anyway.)
On Read Across America Day, teachers can either let children choose bags, or they can pass out bags. Before opening it, remind students that someone else likes this book so much that they wanted to give it to a classmate, and ask them to open their minds to try out a book they may not have chosen for themselves.
This is an excellent activity to do with teachers of other grades, because students can be even more generous in passing down books that they have outgrown.
Free Digital Books on Read Across America
Kidthing and NEA offer free book downloads in honor of Read Across America. In order to take advantage of this, teachers need to register for the site. After registration, the site gives a code to be entered in the Kidthing store for the Free NEA selection (when it becomes available). Currently the site is allowing users to register for a free digital copy of Dear Mr. President, which is a collection of children's letters to President Obama.
The site requires patience; it also requires downloading and installing a file to access the book downloads.
NEA Read Across America Resources for Readers
As always, the National Education Association has some great downloads for teachers. In 2009, new free pdf files include:
- a certificate of achievement for students
- a certificate of appreciation for volunteers (which can be given to the parents who let their children donate books)
- a reader's oath
- a bookmark
Read Across America is becoming increasingly common in schools, and students look forward to reading with their classes and having parents volunteer. Recommending and sharing books with classmates, and getting to go home with a new book, makes the day even more special.
