Read Across America Day is an annual celebration that coincides with the birthday of the beloved children’s author, Dr. Seuss. Aaaaaah, Dr. Seuss — hands in the air if he was one of your favorites! Well, I am elated to say that he is also one of my children’s favorites. Now that my youngest boys are 3 and 5, we will actually get to celebrate Read Across America Day in a way that they will remember and encourage their love for reading.
Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and helps to create lifelong lovers of reading. As someone who has always loved reading, I find it exciting to have a day like this to celebrate one of the most famous children’s authors of all time. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do much better in school.
Even if you don’t have a child that can read independently yet, Read Across America Day still affords you the opportunity to get in on the fun and create excitement around reading.
Here are some of the activities that you can do in Atlanta for Read Across America Day:
Check out your local library!
Libraries are a fun and free option to celebrate Read Across America day! Many libraries are having special programs going on for this special day. Special reading activities, snacks, and fun are sure to fill this day. It also affords you the opportunity to take some time with your child(ren) to explore some things that they may be interested in and find some new books to check out and dive into. What better time to introduce your child to reading than on Read Across America day when everyone is excited about it.
You can check the website of your local library to see what special things they have planned. Different locations all over Atlanta are commemorating this day with a variety of activities.
Have a party with your children!
Mark Read Across America Day with true Dr. Seuss spirit. Grab some of your favorite Dr. Seuss books and have fun with it at home! You can really get crazy with this. I love parties! What better time to have a party with your children AND encourage a love of reading than. Given that Dr. Seuss has many titles that are childhood favorites, you can be very creative with this.
Serve up some green eggs and ham. (I did this with my eldest son and he absolutely loved it.) Be brave and take that first bite to convince them that they really do taste the same.
If you are on Pinterest, you can find many different ideas about Dr. Seuss parties. You can have a red and white party. Have your children and their friends wear their clothes inside out. Make it a crazy hat day or pajama day. Or foxiest socks day. Or Come-As-Your-Favorite-Seuss-Character Day. Be sure to tie books into your festive-wear theme with reading aloud of related titles.
You can find plenty of ideas online for snacks too. You can provide kids with wooden skewers (or small straws for younger hands) and red and white foods. Banana with strawberry slices and raspberries with mini marshmallows are great options to serve. Have kids alternate the red and white foods as they put them on the skewer then let them enjoy the snack as you read aloud.
Celebrate at school!
This may be something that will likely be more popular in the younger grades. Like with the parties at home, check with your child’s teacher to see how they will commemorate Read Across America day at your child’s school. There is room to incorporate different things into the class setting such as crafts, dress up, special treats and story time to make this particular day fun and again, encourage a love of reading.
If you are homeschooling, you can get together with families in your Co-op (or other friends) and have an all things Dr. Seuss party. Allow the kids to get creative and have a great time.
All across Atlanta, there are different activities happening for Read Across America day. Atlantic Station is getting in on the fun. Barnes and Noble will have a special celebration as well.
Read Across America day isn’t just a day for young children to celebrate. It’s a day for all of us to celebrate. As we strive to cultivate a stronger love of reading in the next generation, we can enjoy special days like this when we can stop and smell the green eggs and ham.
