Read Across America Week
Next week, my kids have a week long schedule of fun themed activities and dress up at school to celebrate Read Across America Week. It is a week that has been established to encourage children to read as well as to honor Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Recently, there has been a move not to associate this day with Dr. Seuss as some of his work has been criticized for not being inclusive. In fact, Dr. Seuss’ Enterprise has stopped publishing six of his books due to some insensitive imagery but fortunately these books are not banned. Regardless of your thoughts, this day shouldn’t be demoted to bickering over censorship or politics but really is about encouraging the growth of children’s literacy. I made some coloring bookmarks as well as some other printable activities that are free to download below for personal, single classroom, or library use. Hope they can be of help to your kids in celebrating this week.
This file is best printed out onto cardstock and given to your kids to color and cut to form their own special bookmarks. These bookmarks feature happy stars and hearts and also would be great to use for other patriotic occasions.
I still choose to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with my kids as he really was a pioneer in making reading fun for children. My kids all adore his stories, memorizing many by heart from a young age.
I made this printable set of coloring bookmarks for them as a nod to four of their favorite Seuss’ tales.
I also updated the coloring page I made previously to celebrate his birthday.
My kids love coloring. They use everything from crayons and pens to colored pencils and oil pastels. Oil pastels especially are wonderful for young kids as they produce such vibrant colors without much effort or having to fuss with lids and caps. In the past my kids have also enjoyed using dot markers and watercolor paint to decorate his cake. If your kids choose to do this, just be sure to print Dr. Seuss’ birthday cake out onto either mixed media paper or white cardstock.
My kids also enjoy revisiting some of the printables I have made in previous years.
This writing activity was inspired by Dr. Seuss’ first book, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” which is actually one of the six books that have ceased publication. It was criticized for its depiction of a Chinese man with chopsticks. I, for one am an Asian American who is not offended and am thankful I have a copy of this book that I can continue to share with my kids. Yes, it is a stereotypical caricature but rather than hiding these examples, it provides a good starting point of discussion about how it can be hurtful to racially profile people, and still really is such a great imaginative story.
My kids were encouraged to write about what things they saw walking home on their fictional streets. This year, my son wrote about walking home on Wild Street and all the exotic animals he saw. My daughter in first grade, wrote about all the cars and signs she saw walking home on Fancy Street and my preschooler drew a picture of a girl walking with an armful of sweets on Cotton Candy Street. I was just thrilled that they all wanted to write so much with this activity.
I also pulled out the math mat I made previously for my preschooler and toddler.
I slipped this printable in a heavy duty sheet protector and used this with a dry erase marker and some goldfish crackers for a simple early math setup for my youngest two. My toddler is working on counting 1-5. I just wrote different numbers in the box and she would place the corresponding number of goldfish in the tree… then eat them. I wrote simple addition and subtraction problems in the box for my preschooler to solve. She will be starting kindergarten soon and is currently working on her math facts, adding and subtracting one digit numbers. This was a simple and fun way for her to practice this.
The writing activity and math mat are free to download here.
Whether you decide to celebrate another children’s author or Dr. Seuss, the point really is to read to your child and perhaps do something a little extra (extend a story with fun food, a simple craft, or small world play for example) to help grow kids who love to read.
Your child may also enjoy:
I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.
If you use these printables in your home or classroom, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.
Wishing you a wonderful week celebrating literacy with your young readers!
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