WRAD is coming…sounds like something we said in fifth grade. But it’s so much more!

As I do every week in my library, I am planning on reading aloud with my students on March 7th. The difference is that it happens to be a very special day in the world of reading. It’s World Read Aloud Day. What in the world have you gotten yourself into now, Valerie? What? Well, this (yes, that is a link to LitWorld – follow it to find out more). That’s what. Here’s the thing: I know how fortunate I am to have grown up with reading. I know how fortunate I am to share reading with students every single week, and to have a library which feeds their imaginations and their minds. This is a celebration I wanted to be part of, even if in a small way, this year.

Thanks to the efforts of some bloggers and tweeters out there, I learned about World Read Aloud Day (totally WRAD!), and I felt welcomed to join in. There are Skype visits planned with authors, and all manner of lovely stuff going on, and I thought about connecting with some of those folks virtually. Right now, at my school, I realized that I need to focus on our small community, and get it done well,  and move the community to do more and bigger next time. But how will I focus?

Let’s see… I have 7th graders that day in the library. We’re creating Public Service Announcements for our school community on the iPads. But I’ll read to them, or show them amazing book trailers. Or both. I’ve got 2nd graders, and of course I’ll read to them. Probably one of these: The Circus Ship, by Chris Van Dusen, or The Sandwich Swap, by Kelly DiPucchio and Queen Rania al Abdullah. I have teachers for a meeting, too. I think they need to hear The Librarian of Basra, by Jeannette Winter, or The End, by David LaRochelle.

I’ll ask my staff members to share with me throughout the day as well,  the reading they share with students, what they read for themselves, their own celebration of the written word. And I’ll share those experiences with you. WRAD. This is totally rad, which is what I thought of when I first saw the acronym. Radical. But also wonderful, and, because it’s all of us, it can be very powerful. Join us March 7th. Celebrate the power of words.

And now? Now I’ll share some blogs with you, posts about this event which I have enjoyed:

Watch. Connect. Read.

Two Libraries, One Voice.

Read Write and Reflect

Happy reading!

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