Thursday, March 6, 2014

Another Epic Day of Celebrating World Read Aloud Day


Shannon McClintock Miller said it best, in her blog post, "World Read Aloud Day is always something that brings so much happy, hope, and friendship to all of us who participate."

I completely agree!  Celebrating World Read Aloud Day for this entire week has brought so much "happiness, hope, and friendship" to the Harding Elementary Library!  I am beyond grateful and happy to provide the opportunity for Harding Elementary to participate!  It has brought Harding Elementary student happiness, a sense of unity, a love for reading, and so much more that completely fills my heart with warmth!

Today, three Harding Elementary classes connected with students from West Salem, Wisconsin and South Burlington, Vermont!

Mrs. Long's 4th Grade class from Harding Elementary has been incredibly lucky to connect with two different classes from two different states!  You can read about their first connection with students in Port Orange, Florida by clicking here .  Today, they "travelled" virtually to West Salem, Wisconsin to meet teacher-librarian Mary Hundt (@MaryFranny) and her 4th grade students.  Mary and I both took turns reading aloud The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt !  It is Day 4 of World Read Aloud and I have read that book several times, but I am not tired of it, at all! :)


Check out these pictures of students in Mrs. Long's 4th grade class connecting with teacher-librarian Mary Hundt and her students from West Salem, Wisconsin (1 hour away from Wisconsin Dells).













Mrs. Zweibohmer's 2nd grade class has enjoyed two Google Hangout visits with teacher-librarian Sandi Ellis and students from Dallas Center Grimes, Iowa.  So, it was a real treat to "travel" outside the state of Iowa and head all the way over to South Burlington, Vermont to meet teacher-librarian Donna Macdonald (@dsmacdonald) and her kindergarten students!

Personally, for me, it was truly a treat to connect and meet with another "all-star teacher-librarian."  Donna is well known in the world of teacher-librarians!  She is ISTE SIGLIB president-elect and a name I read a lot on Twitter.

Her kindergarten students were eager to listen to a read aloud of The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt!  Check out their Vine video We Can't Wait To Read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt!  Check out photos taken by Donna Macdonald by clicking here and clicking here!

Here are pictures I took of our amazing experience of connecting with Donna and her students!










Like Mrs. Long's class, Mrs. Hobart and Mrs. Kyle's 1st grade class from Harding Elementary has been fortunate and lucky to connect and make friends twice.  You can read about their first connection with students from Austin, Texas on Monday, March 3 by clicking here.  Today the first graders connected and made new friends with teacher-librarian Mary Hundt and her kindergarten students from West Salem, Wisconsin.

It was especially a meaningful connection for Mrs. Hobart, as she is from Sparta, Wisconsin.  Mrs. Hobart was able to talk to our new friends in West Salem and make personal connections!


While every connection this week has been special or unique in some way, this Skype session was particularly unique, and a connection I consider to be tons of fun and EPIC!  :)

We chose to go to http://www.wegivebooks.org/ to read aloud The Story of Fish and Snail by Deb Freedman!

Mary played Fish and I played Snail in the story.  It was so much fun to read the book from each character's perspective.  It was especially an amazing experience to "share" this book via http://www.wegivebooks.org/ !

Check out pictures of how much the first graders enjoyed making a new connection with Mary Hundt and her kindergarten students!










After enjoying The Story of Fish and Snail by Deb Freedman, students took turns to ask each other questions about their lives in Mason City, Iowa and West Salem, Wisconsin!







At the end of the school day, I couldn't help but sit back in my chair, in an empty school library, and take in all the amazing connections and new friendships made over the last four days, thanks to Lit World 's World Read Aloud Day!

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