I’m always up for a holiday, especially one related to reading. Here are some ideas for ways to celebrate National Reading Day this Friday, January 23rd with your students or at home with your own kids.
Ways To Celebrate National Reading Day
- Hold a Mock Caldecott voting party. The Caldecott Medal is awarded every year by the American Library Association to the artist of the most distinguished picture book for children. It’s like the Oscars for picture book illustrators. Check out 2014 Mock Caldecott nominees here and see these tips for hosting a Mock Caldecott with your young readers.
- Host a Book Exchange with your class or neighborhood. Have students bring in one gently used book and do a book swap. This also makes a great birthday party favor idea.
- Teacher Read Aloud Swap. Students love hearing a new voice read to them. Teachers can swap classrooms for 20 minutes and read a favorite book to a new group. Picture books with a character building lesson are good candidates since they can be read in a short time but have deeper meanings for older readers as well as young readers. Find great character books here.
- Dress Up as Your Favorite Character. Encourage students to dress up like their favorite literary character for the day. Have them take turns answering 5 questions from other students while they remain in character.
- Recommend Books to Friends. Kids are the #1 source of new book ideas. Have kids log on to Bookopolis.com and recommend books to each other. Students can print out their book page or log back in anytime to see this list when they need to find a new book to read.