A NEW Reading Bulletin Board & Idea For Our Super Readers & Their Families!

On Friday, author and storyteller, Michael Dahl, visited our school.  We were not only celebrating LitWorld's World Read Aloud Day, we were also celebrating our new reading initiative, Van Meter Reads, through reading, writing and one of Michael's new books, Family Is A Superpower.  

As we prepared for his visit, we thought about how we could tie these wonderful things about Michael into our brand new Van Meter Reads bulletin board.  Through this display in our main elementary hallway, we would get our students, teachers and families even more excited about Van Meter Reads. 

About the same time, one of our 3rd graders came to me with a special request.  Ainsley and her family wanted to volunteer in the library and this new bulletin board was the perfect fit.

Ainsley, with her mom and grandma, all came to help.  We took all of the things down, put new butcher paper up, laid out the super fun letters she found on Teachers Pay Teachers, and then we all worked together to get the lettres up on the board.

 

On the board, we also wanted to put Michael's new book.  As I looked at the cover,

 I decided to add Reading over the top.  I love how it turned out especially when....

....we blew it up and laminated it for the bulletin board.  WOW!  It was already looking so amazing. 

Next, we needed to add a dog so our friend and parent from Van Meter, 

 

Wendy and her daughter Sophie, helped arrange a bulldog, Otto, to come to the library for a little photo shoot with several of our 5th graders. 

 We took all kinds of cute pictures that day.

They even photoshopped Otto's lease out of the photo.  

He was such a hit and the pictures we took have now turned into the main character of our Van Meter Reads initiative.  

 

For the bulletin board, I took an image of Ottis and turned it into the giant poster using this digital tool, Block Posters. 

It is super easy to do!  All you have to do it upload your image.

Then you pick how big you want it to be.  I chose a pretty big size since he was going to cover that large space at the end of the board. 

 Once you select the size, Block Posters sends you a PDF of your enlarged image.

You just print it off, tape or laminate it into place and you have....

 ...a wonderfully large bulldog poster that will encourage others to read, create and connect at school and home to literacy, learning and so much more.  I love how Ainsley's mom put a cap on our bulldog too.

 Last but not least, my favorite part....Van Meter Reads!  Family Reading is a SUPER POWER! 

The whole idea around this bulletin board is to encourage and celebrate reading, especially family reading.  By using the Van Meter Reads and Family Reading Is A Superpower, we asked all families to bring or send in a photo of them reading together at home.

We shared this information in this flyer and email that went home.  

The family reading photos are so fun to see as we add them to our new bulletin for everyone to enjoy. 

I know our students, teachers and families will love the reading pictures that will fill this hallway at our school. 

And a big thanks to Superman, oh, I mean Michael Dahl, for helping us kick off Van Meter Reads!

It was such a special day (post coming next with more about his visit).