One of our favorite reading and book celebrations each year is The Global Read Aloud, which uses one book to connect our world of readers.
This year it starts on September 30, 2019 and runs for 6 weeks. And this year....it is the 10th Anniversary of Global Read Aloud, which is something to celebrate in itself!
I have participated in Global Read Aloud from the beginning. I love how GRA brings all of us together through books, reading and celebrating the wonderful authors and illustrators that bring our readers these special reading experiences.
One of my favorite GRA memories is when the 5th graders at Van Meter teamed up with 5th graders in New Hampshire to read Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind. Every week they all came to the library where we Skyped with the class in New Hampshire. We used Edmodo for discussion as we read and to keep the conversation going throughout the week. It was an amazing experience for all of us.
I am especially excited about Global Read Aloud this year as we get ready to celebrate it at Van Meter. I ordered the books last week and can't wait to share these with all of our students and teachers. This is an amazing year of books, authors and illustrators!
My amazing friend and educator Pernille Ripp, who founded Global Read Aloud, stated this on her blog about the 2019 wonderful selections,
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Global Read Aloud. It is hard to believe that what started as such a small idea has grown into a truly global literacy initiative that has connected millions of kids throughout the year. It is hard to believe that it has been ten years already.
Yesterday, I was asked what the Global Read Aloud means to me and I will admit, it was hard to answer the question. Because in its truest form, the GRA is an invitation into a world that we can share together. An invitation into a story that will shape our experience, that will help us speak books with one another in order for us to understand each other better. Every year I see the connections being made and think of each of them as a small chip in the many walls that seem to surround us around the world, I see it as one more step toward a more empathetic, understanding, and activist society.
And so the books are at the center of it all which puts a lot of pressure on the selection of the texts. Hitting publish on this post will once again mean me holding my breath, waiting for the reaction to unfold worldwide. And yet, it also means that perhaps these books will change the way we think, the way we teach. That these books and the creators behind them will become part of the language of books that we speak with our students. I cannot wait for that to happen.
If you haven't already signed up you can visit the...
...2019 Global Read Aloud Sign Up online. This is how we will receive all of the details about GRA.
You can also find lots of great information on The Global Read Aloud Facebook Page and there is a Facebook Group for each GRA group too.
You will find them here:
I have started a Global Read Aloud 2019 Collection by Destiny. I will keep adding things as they come up including project ideas, all of the Facebook Groups, ways to connect and more! You will find it here.
Here is a Wakelet Global Read Aloud 2019 Collection! I am excited about this because I have been adding tweets and other social media posts too!
Please feel free to follow or become a collaborator to help me with this Collection too. I would love to have you.
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