Librarians, authors, adults, teens, and children from all over the globe will celebrate the power of words and stories during the annual World Read Aloud Day on Wednesday, March 9.
Sponsored by the New York-based literacy organization LitWorld, participants are asked to read with loved ones and friends to help reach a goal of 774 million minutes of reading to honor the 774 million people worldwide who are illiterate.
In New York City alone, one million residents are unable to read above an elementary school level. To call attention to this fact, LitWorld will host a 24-hour Read Aloud Marathon in Times Square on the big day. Special guest readers will include New York City Chancellor of Schools Cathie Black, Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis M. Walcott, and authors and entertainers, including C. Alexander London, Adam Gidwitz, Jane O'Connor, and Jill Santopolo. A special LitWorld poem will be printed exclusively in the local Daily News for New Yorkers to read together and celebrate the power of the written word.
With the help of author Kate Messner, a number of other authors have agreed to give virtual readings to schools via Skype on March 9. Laurel Snyder, Iza Trapani, and Katie Davis plan to give virtual readings and a complete list of the 36 authors is available on Messner's blog. Messner plans to read her Sugar and Ice (Walker, 2010) to Karla Duff's sixth graders at Iowa's Oelwein Middle School and offer a sneak preview of her latest, Marty McGuire (Scholastic, 2011), due out in May.
What do some librarians have planned for the day? Media specialists like John Schumacher, of Brook Forest
John Schumacher's students getting ready for the big day.
Elementary School in Oak Brook, IL, and Shannon Miller, of Van Meter School in Iowa, will collaborate with their teaching peers through a project called "Celebrating the Power of Words and Stories Through Connections," an event coordinated using a wiki. During the day, their students will connect with other kids around the world via Skype to conduct read-alouds and discuss books.
The Reynolds School, a K-2 elementary school in Upper Saddle River, NJ, will display posters in classrooms, hallways, and the library to promote the day and host a school-wide assembly dedicated to literacy, complete with a reading from their principal. New Jersey's Mahwah Public Library will celebrate global literacy with an after-school World Read Aloud Day program for teens.
"Education, and literacy especially, are the human rights issues of our time," says Pam Allyn, executive director of LitWorld. "We all must work as hard as we can to make sure that children have the right to go to school and to learn to read and write so their stories are part of the fabric of the world as we know it."
John Schumacher's students.
Tens of thousands of people in at least 40 countries will join in the World Read Aloud Day celebration, hosting events from poetry slams to international video chat readings in schools and community groups around the globe. Hundreds of organizations, including Jeffrey Sachs's Millennium Cities Initiative, FreeBalance, Ericsson, Scholastic, Dave Eggers's 826NYC, Broadway Housing Communities, and the Children's Village will also participate.
"World Read Aloud Day has coalesced energy around the importance of reading for all via a vibrant network of supporters," says Allyn. "Anyone can host a World Read Aloud Day community event, or simply take the time to read aloud to a friend in honor of this cause."
LitWorld has spread the word about World Read Aloud Day through social media outlets such as Facebook,Twitter, YouTube, and blogs, and encourages participants to link their posts to LitWorld's social media accounts and litworld.org, inviting everyone to consider the question: What would you miss most if you could not read or write?
The event comes on the heels of the March 2 Read Across America celebration, sponsored by the National Education Association in conjunction with Dr. Seuss's birthday. First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kicked off that day by reading to children at the Library of Congress.
This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.
Another great way to get kids to read aloud is by using online applications such as LittleBirdTales.com so they can create their own digital tales, then record their voices reading each page. Then they can share it with friends and family via email! It's super fun, easy, FREE and has no ads, merchandising or links to other sites! It was designed for kids and is totally parent and teacher approved!
Posted by Amiee on March 9, 2011 02:02:21AM
Read lots of great ebooks at http:// www.Magicblox.com
Posted by Rosemary on March 9, 2011 12:49:19PM
Thank you so much for writing about LitWorld and World Read Aloud Day!
My Warmest Regards,
Ruby Veridiano, LitWorld Team
Posted by Ruby Veridiano on March 14, 2011 07:50:06AM
What a great opportunity !
Here are moments which I'd like to share with you tomorrow on
http://raconte-moi.abuledu.org/w/tag/english
Ann
Posted by Annie Lesca on November 8, 2011 05:22:06AM
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