For almost 20 years, the National Education Association and Dr. Seuss Enterprises has partnered to encourage children to read, read and do more reading through their Read Across America program. It is an annual event celebrated on March 2, which is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. As you can imagine, the celebration is full of fun, quirkiness and the usual characters found in many of Dr. Seuss’ books. According to Susan Brandt, President Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Dr. Seuss “dedicated his whole life to ensuring that reading was engaging and fun for children.”
Read Across America has become the largest birthday party/reading event across the country. This is one that many elementary schools – public, private and homeschool – set time aside in their day to celebrate. I mean really, who does not love to read? This is displayed by volunteers from the community who come into the schools and read to the children. Many libraries, businesses and other community associations participate in the day or hold events sometime during the month of March.
According to the National Center for Education “twenty-six percent of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently.“
In 1999, the “Educational Testing Service reported that students who do more reading at home are better readers and have higher math scores; however, students read less for fun as they get older.1”
We need to keep reading fun for children, because it has been proved that children, who read more, perform better in school. Reading Across America is a good place to start and provides the promotional material you need to host your own event. Although, March 2 is the official date, you can host your event anytime. Keep reading fun throughout the year with these book lists and suggestions on how to inspire children to read. Grab a book and read to a child.
Learn the official Read Across America song.
Singing are Highland Elementary School fourth and fifth graders, Nashville.
Read Across America
©2003 Glenn Weiss
Read across America
We’re so proud of our whole school
We’re reading books across America
You know reading’s really cool.
Every book unfolds a world
That’ll take you far away.
Come join us young and old,
Boys and girls exercise your mind today.
Your imagination is something you should feed.
For growing inspiration let reading be your seed.
Read across America,
From sea to shining sea
Read across America
Will build a better you and me.
Read across America,
From sea to shining sea
Read across America
Will build a better you and me.
Will build a better you and me.
1 Educational Testing Service, 1999. America’s Smallest School: The Family.
Public Read Across America events in your community. This list will be updated throughout March as we learn of new events. Send information about your Read Across America event to Kid Madison.
Papa’s Pizza To-Go – Read Across America Family Fun Night, Monday, February 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., 12905 South 1st Street, Milan 38358, (731) 613-2362
Don’t miss a thing! Subscribe to the Kid Madison blog and get our articles in your inbox!
©2015-2016 Kid Madison. Article by Jennifer Smeltser. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the publisher http://kidmadison.com/.
Leave a Reply