World Read Aloud Day was founded in 2010 as an opportunity for people all around the globe to celebrate the joy of reading aloud and advocate for literacy as a fundamental human right that belongs to everyone.
This year, grades 1-4 celebrated this event together on Wednesday, February 5. Students met in the Commons and were paired up with a student from another grade. Pairs rotated through four different reading activities in the Lower School. Each teacher read from a book and then the students completed different activities with their partners. Teachers and students alike enjoyed the morning!
First Grade Experiences
In First Grade, we read a variety of Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. The stories are all about friendship (being a good friend, helping our friends, etc.). We paired the children up and let them choose which of the books they wanted to read. Then they read together, each child taking a turn reading. After reading, we made balloon Elephant and Piggies to bring home.
Second Grade Experiences
In second grade we read a book titled “One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia “. It is a true story about how one woman from Gambia began a movement to recycle plastic bags that were polluting her community. Then we made friendship bracelets with partners out of plastic grocery bags.
Here is a quote from Isatou Ceesay…”People thought I was too young and that women couldn’t be leaders. I took these things as challenges; they gave me more power. I didn’t call out the problems-I called out solutions.”
Fourth Grade Experiences
In 4th grade we read selections from “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls”. First, we made a graffiti wall of adjectives that describe the people featured in the selections. Then, our students wrote the introduction to their own possible biography in the same format as the book.
Oak Hill Academy 
