Are you celebrating Read Across America Week at your school? I put together a week of theme ideas and book suggestions to share with your K-2 students! The suggested books are personal favorites, but you can swap any book in their place to match the theme days. Read on to download the templates to use with your class and see my top five book suggestions for the week!
Planning for Read Across America Week
My goal for this week is always to expose students to as many NEW books and NEW authors as possible! Each day of the week we have a different theme centered around the books we will read.
Monday – A Book About Food. Everyone brings in a blanket and we have a read aloud picnic during snack time! From there students can spend some additional time reading on their blankets when your story is over.
Tuesday– Books About Colors. Students get to wear something with their favorite color!
Wednesday – Books that highlight words. For this day I suggest picking a book that highlights vocabulary, poetry, or rhyming words.There is one of each type on my suggested book titles. Students wear shirts with words and everyone is always eager to read their friends’ shirts on this day!
Thursday– Books about how everyone is special and unique. Our slogan is, “Hats off to you!” and students can wear hats to school today.
Friday – Books with favorite characters. Students get to wear pajamas and spend time cozied up enjoying some of their favorite books! I like to give students at least 30 minutes to spread out comfortably around the room and just enjoy reading books after our class read aloud! You may also opt to allow students to bring in a favorite stuffed animal to read with during this time
Five Book Titles for Read Across America Week
These suggested books are five of my personal favorites that match our daily themes!
Palatero Man – Travel to a busy Los Angeles neighborhood in search of the Paletero Man. When the narrator finally catches up with him, his pockets are empty. Oh no! What happened to his dinero? It take the help of the entire community to get the tasty treat.
The Crayon Man – This true story celebrate the inventor of the Crayola Crayon! A delightfully engaging story that they students will relate to as they learn about something we use daily at school.
The Word Collector – Follow Jerome as he discovers the magic of the words all around him — short words, two-syllable treats, and multisyllable words that sound like little songs. This book shares the impact words can have when you share them with the world!
The Name Jar – Unehi is anxious about moving to a new school, and considers introducing herself with an American name. With the help of a friend she comes to see that her own name is by far the best name for her. This powerful story reminds students to celebrate being their unique self!
Mother Bruce – Bruce is in for a surprise when his hard boiled eggs turn into four baby geese that believe he is their mama! Bruce tries again and again to be free of the baby geese, and students will laugh at his many attempts, and the fun twist at the end.
Read Across America Reading Responses
Here are five Reading Response Sheets you can use this Read Across America Week! Two are for fiction, two are for nonfiction, and one can be used with any genre. You can download all 5 of them HERE!
And if you’re looking for more Reading Response to use with any fiction or nonfiction book, you can find a complete set HERE!
Happy Read Across America Week!
