Last November I attended the Student Coaliation for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) Read.Write.Act National Conference. I sat in on a workshop given by some students who lead the Virginia Tech Community Literacy Corps. In addition to their tutoring program, every year they host a Reading Day community outreach event during Read Across America Week. They invite local elementary school students to the Virginia Tech campus for a day of stories and arts and crafts.

The students shared a Reading Day theme that I thought sounded like so much fun, “Reading in Different Environments”. They set up stations around the room for different environments including jungle, forest, ocean, desert, and arctic stations. Each station was playfully decorated in the theme and as the children cycled through the stations they read a book and made a fun craft pertaining to the environment. At the desert station they filled bottles with colored sand and at the forest station they planted seeds into little pots. It sounded like the Virginia Tech students had even more fun than the elementary school children.

I know many programs are planning fun reading events in celebration of the NEA’s Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday. We’d love to hear about your great ideas and the fun you’re having with reading!