Read aloud. Change the
World.
That is this year’s
theme for World Read Aloud Day. According to LitWorld, 793 million people are
illiterate. “Imagine a world where everyone can read.”
World
Read Aloud Day (WRAD) began with one woman, Pam Allyn, who visited Kenya and
saw the extreme poverty and the need children had there to read. She started a nonprofit organization called LitWorld in 2007.
Their mission is to “implement on-the-ground innovative
solutions to the hard-to-tackle challenge of illiteracy worldwide.” They “work
in close and trusting partnerships with locally based, grassroots organizations
to build sustainable outcomes for young people around the world.”
“Every year World Read
Aloud Day (WRAD) calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud and
sharing stories.”
WRAD
is one of the events hosted by LitWorld. It began in 2010, and now 82 countries
and millions of people online and live in-person take part in this wonderful day that
shows the importance of reading.
This
year’s WRAD was Feb. 24th, 2016.
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| Laura Sassi, author |
I was
privileged to take part in WRAD at my school. We invited two authors for
February, and they aren’t strangers to the GROG blog—Laura Sassi and Nancy I.Sanders. They both graciously agreed to Skype with our elementary in South Korea.
 |
| Skype with Laura Sassi |
First,
we Skyped with Laura Sassi, author of Goodnight
Ark and Goodnight Manger. This
was the first time my school had done an author Skype. In the words of one of
the students—it was awesome! Laura read Goodnight
Ark to us and commented about writing and illustrating things along the
way. She also brought out her skunk puppets! My own students came back to my
classroom pumped and eager to write a book. Thank you, Laura!
 |
| Nancy I. Sanders, author |
Second,
we Skyped with Nancy I. Sanders, author of A
Pirate’s Mother Goose, Get to Know
Bible Biographies, and a host of other books. Our lower elementary made
pirate hats and brushed up on our pirate lingo to prepare for Nancy’s Skype
session. She read a couple of nursery rhymes from her new pirate book and One Sentence Storybooks. The kids
enjoyed asking her questions in both our k-2 and 3-5 sessions. Thank you, Nancy!
 |
| Skype with Nancy I. Sanders |
In my opinion, you don't need to wait for World Read Aloud Day to read with a class of students. Teachers will be glad to have you come to their class in person or virtually. And it's a great way to get encouraged in your writing, by influencing youngsters to read and write. Have you read to a child lately?
