Read Across America Recap

Mayor G. Stanton and Me

I promised more pictures and ideas for Read Across America day, and I am finally completing my promise. Read Across America Day this year was amazing, we had wonderful guest who read to our students ranging from teachers, newscasters, cheerleaders, to the city's mayor, and secretary of state. Our school was busy and a lot of books were read throughout the day. 

We had other special guest who arrived at our school. The Cat in the Hat, Sam I am, The Grinch, Thing One and Thing Two also visited our school to celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday. The best part is that the students enjoy dressing up as the characters and being helpers for the event. These students get to walk the guest to the classroom where they will be reading at and they get to stay with the guest while they read. It is the students' best memory. 

Thing 1 & 2's headband

These costumes are easily made; The Grinch and Sam I Am costumes were put together by my good friend Pam Gavina. A yellow dress/shirt for Sam I Am and a green long sleeve shirt with a felt heart shape on it. Thing One and Thing Two wore a red shirt with a paper sign on them. I wrote PRO instead of Thing because that is what we call our students at our school. Instead of buying a blue wig I made a headband made of turquoise tulle. The headband was easy to make, just like a tutu. For more instructions on how to create the headband go to this blog, and instead of making a full tutu simply make part of a headband. Remember to adjust the length of the "skirt" because it is hair. : ) 

The readers were also greeted with a treat. This always makes them feel welcomed and appreciated for taking time out of their busy day. The greeting/waiting room area has a sign in sheet. This sheet asks for their address so that students can send thank you cards after the event. In addition, there is water, snacks, and their thank you gifts as shown in a previous blog post. Preparing the snacks is always the fun part, to match a snack with a Dr. Seuss book. No, I wasn't the creative one that came up with all these ideas. I found the ideas online. 

 One Fish Two Fish: Goldfish
The goldfish sign was by Shy By Design. I loved her sign idea and I incorporated it to the rest.  I ran with it. I had Dixie cups where readers could grab some colored goldfish to munch on. The goldfish were in a nice bowl.

Ten Apples Up On Top:  Apples
A basket full of nice red apples with some caramel or Tepin chili as a toping was also placed in the reader's table. I also included a cutting board and an apple slicer. I took the goldfish sign idea and created a similar one for the apples.
 You can get the Ten Apple Sign Here.

Nicole Crites from KPHO CBS 5