World Read Aloud Day
World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is celebrated every February and often into March with Read Across America celebrations. It's a time when children, teens, and adults worldwide celebrate the power of words. It creates a community of readers taking action to show the world that the right to literacy belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day is celebrated by millions of people in more than 100 countries. At Orchard School, classes Skype (or Zoom) with other classes, and often authors, to read books together and share a bit about our world.
World Read Aloud Day 2023
Orchard School students were honored to have virtual visits with TEN authors/illustrations for this year's World Read Aloud celebration. On Instagram, at @OrchardSchoolVT, there are separate posts that include several images from each of the wonderful author visits. On this page, there will be only a few images from each of the amazing visits, but there will be links to the Instagram posts that include more images.
A fine warm-up for World Read Aloud Day was a virtual author visit with Kate Messner and Grace Lin. they gave us a sneak peek at their new picture book ONCE UPON A BOOK, which would come out the following week. Students loved looking for the rabbit through various scenes in the book. It was fun drawing a rabbit with Grace Lin, too! Thanks Carle Museum for the special event.
More Instagram images may be found here. |
Kristina Holzweiss thrilled kindergarten students by reading from her book MY FIRST BOOK OF TRAINS. Time prevented me from doing an Instagram post of the visit, but here are a few images.
First graders enjoyed a virtual author visit with Virginia children's book author Sue Fliess. Sue is the author of over 50 books for children! She read to us her book GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE ENGINEERS, talked about some of her other books, and told us what it is like to be an author. Students asked some great questions, too! Here's the Instagram link for more images.
Third graders were treated to a virtual visit from author Sarah Albee. An amazing fact about Sarah is that she is a former Orchard School student! Sarah now lives in Connecticut and is a New York Times bestselling author of more that 150 books for kids, ranging from preschool through middle grade. She especially loves writing about topics where history and science connect. Sarah read to us from her newest book TROUBLEMAKERS IN TROUSERS. What a fun visit!
Not too many authors can show off a Newbery Medal. We were delighted when Donna Barba Higuera held up hers, presented for THE LAST CUENTISTA, during our World Read Aloud Day connection. We can't wait for the sequels!!
We also can't wait for Janae Marks' ON AIR WITH ZOE WASHINGTON, coming out next week!!
We so appreciate that they read from their books to us! Instagram images are here.
We also can't wait for Janae Marks' ON AIR WITH ZOE WASHINGTON, coming out next week!!
We so appreciate that they read from their books to us! Instagram images are here.
Fourth and fifth graders enjoyed virtual author visits for World Read Aloud Day. They heard the first two chapters in Ann Braden's soon to be released new book OPINIONS AND OPOSSUMS. They also learned about how to deal with bullying from STARFISH author Lisa Fipps. Many thanks to these inspiring authors for their time with our students!
World Read Aloud Day 2022
Wednesday, February 2, 2022 was an amazing day, filled with EIGHT different author connections for students in grades 1-5. On Instagram, at @OrchardSchoolVT, there are separate posts that include several images from each of the wonderful author visits. I'm only posting one or two images from each visit here, but have included the links to the Instagram post for each of the Zoom visits.
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Here are a few of the "glow bugs" that third graders created with the help of makerspace book author Kristina Holzweiss.
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We were fortunate to be able to schedule Dr. LaRocca for a second visit with Ms. Petzold's fifth graders. Here is that Instagram post.
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World Read Aloud Day 2020 - Connecting Students One Book at a Time
Orchard School's library is always a busy place, but this is especially true during World Read Aloud celebrations. This year, classes Skyped with another class somewhere around the US for World Read Aloud Week. There even was a visit with high school students in London!! Student shared favorite books and made new friends in Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina and Texas. Below are some of the tweets.
Five Orchard School classes were fortunate to be able to connect with four authors and/or illustrators who shared their books.
Here's how it looked outside of the library after World Read Aloud Week 2020 Skype visits.
World Read Aloud Day 2019
What do classes at Pauline Central School in Topeka, Kansas & Emerson Elementary in Houston, Texas have in common? They are only two classes of the twenty-four Skype or Google Hangout connections that were made by students in Orchard School library classes during World Read Aloud Week in early February. In all, an amazing 28,859 miles were “traveled” through these virtual connections! Classes in fourteen states were visited for shared stories during World Read Aloud Week, an event that calls global attention to the importance of celebrating the power of words and reading aloud. Several Orchard School classes were fortunate to be able to connect with eight authors and/or illustrators who shared their books, as well!
Below are some tweets about authors that we connected with for World Read Aloud Day.
Classes also were excited to connect with authors Deborah Freedman and David Kelly.
World Read Aloud Day 2017
This year, the timing for World Read Aloud Day happened to make it fit perfectly within Orchard School's yearly "I Love to Read & Write Week" celebrations. To view more information about the four authors we Skyped with, please see the "I Love to Read Week" link. Also, Orchard School students were honored to spend the day with the very talented author/illustrator, Jason Chin. Jason shared his new picture book Grand Canyon at Friday's whole school morning meeting, and then did presentations with K, 1, 2-3 and 4-5 grade levels. Please see this separate web page for more information about this visit to Orchard School.
Orchard School Students Connect with Others for WRAD17 (Hover over each picture for information.)
At the end of the week, a map in the hall displayed pictures of all the people we met and places we visited through Skype for WRAD17. The number of miles totaled 24,050! It certainly was an adventurous week of making connections with books.
World Read Aloud Day 2016
We had a shortened WRAD16 due to a vacation that extended two days into a second week due to Town Meeting Day. Our first day of connections happened to fall on March 2nd, which is also Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday.
What a treat to have Nikki Robertson from Alabama read THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME by Drew Daywelt to Ms. Garland's fifth graders! The students loved all of the various voices that Ms. Robertson used in her reading!
Glen Allen, Virginia was the location for a Skype visit for Mrs. Tate's fourth grade class. The students took turns reading YOUR ALIEN by Tammi Sauer to the young kindergarteners in Shannon Hyman's library in Virginia. Mr. Wright's fifth graders heard WOLFIE, THE BUNNY by Ame Dyckman with Mrs. Hyman's 2nd graders, too.
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Mrs. Heinz's third graders were treated to a reading of THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME by Drew Daywalt from sixth graders in Lebanon, Missouri. Their librarian, Angie Dickerson shared that their mascot is a yellow jacket, which was evident on many of the students' clothing. It was great to hear that, although miles apart, we have much in common.
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Our closest connection for WRAD16 was with Essex Elementary School. Mrs. Walcott's kindergarteners listened to SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN with Carol Scrimgeour's kindergarten students. They are a short 24 miles away from us! We shared that, just maybe, we might see each other someday when shopping at the mall!
For our final day of WRAD16 connections, I was challenged to read the dialogue for Tammi Sauer's CHICKEN DANCE while Shannon Hyman from Virginia read the narrator parts.There were polite giggles heard as I attempted an Elvis Presley accent for one of the main characters.
A keen knowledge of US geography was needed for the Mystery Skype that Mrs. Bliss' class participated in for their WRAD16 connection. Students were in teams of questioners, answerers and map readers for this challenge to locate our mystery class. After many rounds of Yes or No questions, it was finally determined that the class was located in Belton, Missouri! Their librarian, Tanya Appling and I read ROBOT ZOT by Jon Scieszka to the groups since both classes had just finished learning how to program various robots. Students shared a bit about the types of robots they used and how they programmed them.
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Our final, and most distant, visit for World Read Aloud Day 2016 was with a third grade class in Vancouver, Washington. Mrs. McQuillen's first graders listened to THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME by Drew Daywalt. It was great to meet Ron Wagner, the teacher librarian at Felida Elementary School. He shared a map that illustrated our locations.
What a busy first week back from vacation! There were SO many fabulous WRAD16 connections! I look forward to more opportunities to extend our students' awareness of the world beyond our school's walls.