LitWorld & VoiceThread: Share Your Favorite Read Aloud!

Do you have a favorite passage, poem or picture book that you wish everyone in the world could hear? LitWorld and VoiceThread invite you and your students to create short read aloud videos to add your voice and story to the World Read Aloud Day movement.

Submit your video to the ThreadBox below, and leave comments on the videos that have already been created by teachers and students. Any teacher new to VoiceThread who creates and submits a video to the World Read Aloud Day ThreadBox will win a free one year VoiceThread license for their school!  Click here for detailed instructions on how to register for VoiceThread, and how to create your own content or comment on existing VoiceThread videos. 

To be eligible for your free VoiceThread license, please enter your name and email below after you submit your thread to the ThreadBox, and your free trial account will be automatically upgraded!

A Very WRAD Giveaway: How to Read a Story

World Read Aloud Day gathers a global community of readers to celebrate the magic that happens when reading becomes much more than words on a page. Kate Messner captures this important relationship between reader and story perfectly in her book "How to Read a Story" which inspires kids to embrace the playfulness of reading, and to explore the layers of discovery that readers experience.

We are beyond excited to announce that in honor of World Read Aloud Day, Kate Messner and Chronicle Books are giving away a classroom (or library) set of "How to Read a Story." The lucky winner will receive 30 signed copies of the book, which Kate has generously offered to personalize.

How to Enter

The giveaway is open to residents of the continental United States. To be eligible to win, register your World Read Aloud Day participation on the LitWorld website (litworld.org/register). World Read Aloud Day participants who have registered prior to this giveaway announcement will automatically be entered to win, no need to re-submit your registration. The giveaway closes February 19th at midnight Eastern Time (EST). A winner will be chosen at random and will be notified by email.

Please join us in thanking Kate and Chronicle Books for their generosity and World Read Aloud Day advocacy! Visit Kate at katemessner.com where she is organizing another wonderful World Read Aloud Initiative — author Skype read alouds! Browse the list of authors who are available to read to your students for World Read Aloud Day. Together we will make World Read Aloud Day 2016 the best and biggest celebration yet!

January News for You: An Invitation to Celebrate World Read Aloud Day, and More

We Exceeded our Annual Appeal Goal. Jump for Joy!

We welcome 2016 with the joyful news that we surpassed our $500,000 Annual Appeal fundraising goal! Your support, friendship and advocacy for LitKids across the country and around the world empowers us to ring in 2016 as the year of the LitKid, when thousands more children will experience the profound joy of belonging to a LitClub community. Read on for a special tour of LitWorld stories that are in full swing for the new year.

Join the Countdown to World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud Day on February 24th calls attention to the power of reading aloud, and connects the world as a community of readers. World Read Aloud Day is proudly sponsored by Scholastic, and we are honored to join together to bring the power of the read aloud to many more children in the United States and around the world. Join our global movement of over one million people: Register your participation. Count down on social media. Download our classroom and community activity kits. Schedule a virtual read aloud with an author, another classroom, or family and friends. Share this post with your friends and followers.

Photo credit: Monet Izabeth Eliastam

The LitWorld Way

LitWorld is a first responder, bringing urgently needed literacy programs to people who have experienced trauma or natural disasters. But the power of LitWorld is that we stay for the long term, cultivating sustainable learning structures with community partners to support children through to high school, college and beyond. Our team is in Nepal and Haiti this week with graduate students from the Wagner School of Public Service. We will work with our local partners to illuminate the impact of our innovative approach of empowering local leaders to deliver responsive literacy programs, and to deepen and grow our replicable, resilience-building model.

Listen Up: Every Child a Super Reader

LitWorld Founder Pam Allyn and Board Member Dr. Ernest Morrell, Macy Professor of Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, are the featured guests on the latest Scholastic Reads podcast! Pam and Ernest talk about their new book Every Child a Super Reader and how we can us the inherent strength and brilliance of each child to get them excited and inspired to read. Listen to the podcast here.

Get Connected for World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud Day on February 24th is a time to celebrate the extraordinary power of reading and sharing stories aloud to create community between readers.

We excited to share that the Skype in the Classroom community is rallying authors and classrooms for World Read Aloud Day. To schedule a read aloud connection visit the Skype in the Classroom site, where you will have access to 1.5 million educators and classrooms worldwide. After creating an account, you will be able to add your availability for video chat connections during the week of World Read Aloud Day and educators from around the world can contact you to request virtual read aloud sessions.

Adding to this excitement, our wonderful WRADvocates (World Read Aloud Day advocates) have created more easy ways for educators and community program leaders to schedule video chat read alouds with one another and with published authors.

To schedule a read aloud connection for with another classroom or community group, check out an open access Google doc created by Shannon Miller and Andy Plemmons. In the doc you will be able to add your schedule and availability for video chat connections during the week of World Read Aloud Day, and you will also be able to search the schedules of others. When adding to the Google doc, remember to include the following information: your name, contact info (such as social media handles, Skype username, and/or email), your role, location, school name and grade levels, location, time zone and dates and times that you are available for a virtual read aloud session.

A read aloud over video chat with an author or illustrator is another way to add magic and delight to World Read Aloud Day. Author Kate Messner has put out an open call for traditionally published authors to volunteer as guest readers for World Read Aloud Day and has posted author availability on her blog.

Wherever and however you will celebrate World Read Aloud Day, reach out to the ones you love to schedule time for a special read aloud on February 24th.