Dedham Celebrates World Read Aloud Day

Editor's Note: The following was submitted by Meghan Nels, a Library with the Oakdale Elementary School in Dedham.

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is celebrated on the first Wednesday in March. WRAD is day to celebrate words and reading. It is day to prove to the world that reading is important and everyone, everywhere should have access to books and celebrate reading. School libraries around the world celebrated WRAD by connecting with other classrooms to read aloud during the whole first week of March.

Students at the Avery, Oakdale, and Riverdale schools joined in the reading celebrations! The librarians at these three elementary schools coordinated Skype visits with other classes and authors. Many authors offer free Skype visits on World Read Aloud Day.

Avery School celebrated with the DHS basketball team. One or two team members went to each classroom and read to them at the end of the day. Throughout the week, every class that visited the library participated in a Skype visit. Thirteen classes Skyped with another class and one class had an author Skype visit with Corey Rosen Schwartz the author of Three Ninja Pigs and Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears. The students at Avery connected with 6 different states through the use of Skype. In addition to Skype visits, students also completed a Padlet, an online bulletin board, and shared who they would read aloud to.

The WRAD celebrations at the Oakdale school were celebrated in much the same way as at the Avery school. Every class that visited the library, 15 classes, participated in a Skype visit with another class. These Skype visits connected the students with students in 6 different states. Ame Dyckman, the author of Boy + Bot and Tea Party Rules, Skyped with all first and second graders on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate World Read Aloud Day. Students also had the opportunity to share their read aloud habitats via a Google Doc on the library website.

The Riverdale school celebrated WRAD in two very special ways! Many classes had Skype visits with other classes while others had read aloud from celebrity guest readers. Students in the 4th and 5th grade wrote about their reading experiences on a padlet, an online bulletin board and students in the first to third grades wrote and drew about their love of reading and created a WRAD quilt.

All in all, World Read Aloud Day, was a wonderful reading celebration not only in Dedham but also around the world! Over 750 cities participated in World Read Aloud Day and we are very excited to add Dedham to WRAD map for the second year in a row.

Oakdale WRAD Celebration Video 2014
Avery WRAD Celebration Video 2014