Reading Week For Little Learners

National Reading Week begins on March 2nd and usually lasts for one week. However, there are many schools who celebrate for the entire month of March. Whether you call it Reading Week, Literacy Week, or National Reading Week, what activities do you have planned for your students? Do you need some ideas and activities to for Reading Week For Little Learners?

Since technology has taken over so much of our children’s lives, most do not pick up books for entertainment. Reading week is an chance to expose little learners to a whole new world of reading books for pleasure and enjoyment!!!

One of the goals as a kindergarten teacher is to teach students to read. This is done through a plethora of word activities and reading a lot of books. Reading Week is an opportunity to focus in on reading, introduce books as a pleasurable experience and not something to endure, as well as instill a life-long love of reading.

Whole School Activities

Most school districts or individual schools have a set agenda for Reading Week. Librarians or admin typically organize daily fun and engaging activities for students. This is a commonly a collaborative effort among all of the admin, support staff and teachers. However, individual teachers can have classroom activities to promote reading as well.

Book Fair

At our school, the annual Book Fair is held during this time. Classes rotate through the fair giving students the chance to browse the many different books available and purchase them if possible. This promotes and encourages excitement for owning books in the students.

Daily Themes

Our school had themes for each day for Reading Week. Some of the themes were Neon Day, Favorite Character Day, Vocabulary Day (wear a sign with a vocabulary word), Crazy Sock Day, Mismatched Day, etc. This enables active participation and excitement for Reading Week.

Old Book Exchange

Having an Old Book Exchange is fun for all students. We had an area in the front office where students could bring in a book from home and exchange for a book someone else brought in.

Guest Readers

Many schools will bring in guest readers during this week. It may be whole school readings, grade level, or individual classes.

Guest Authors

Bringing in an author is another fun way to engage students with reading. Meeting the person who wrote the book adds interest and meaning to the authors book.

D.E.A.R.

Drop Everything And Read!! We have this at our school and the students love it!! At random times, usually once or twice during each day, the office would announce DEAR. Our class then drops everything and reads. We would give the students 10-15 of individual reading time with the book they chose. This is fun and exciting for the students.

Principle and/or Vice Principle Activity

During this week, our school also did our mid-year testing. We turned this into a contest. We had a certain percent pass rate, certain percent test completion, or some other test requirement. If we met that goal, the principle or vice-principle had to do some crazy act–sit on roof of school, dress in a costume, etc. This is sooo much fun and loads of entertainment for the students.

Individual Class Activities

Although your school may have many different reading activities throughout the week, you may want some specific focus for your little learners.

D.E.A.R.

Try the Drop Everything And Read in your class. A fun and purposeful break for your new readers.

Author Spotlights

Pick a specific author each day. Have the authors books available for your students to read and read one of them out loud. Here are some of my favorites.