There are lots of ways to get kids excited about reading, but at ACGC Elementary, the I Love to Read Month activities during the month of March aim to take that love even deeper. Thanks to the passion and organization of Title Teacher, Literacy Lead and Reading Corps Internal Coach Amy Ripperger and amazing staff support, students in PreK through fourth grade had an abundance of fun and meaningful activities.
Having done these types of activities around a central theme for about six years including a Dr. Seuss theme, a local Minnesota author theme, and others, this year was all about kindness. A number of kindness and community focused books were chosen like Each Kindness, Pig the Pug, and Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch to give students strong examples of kindness while encouraging them to dive into a love of reading.
“We used books about kindness and had lessons planned for each book with quick activities and discussion questions,” said Ripperger. “We have done so many different themes and I really wanted to connect it to social emotional learning. All of the books I was drawn to had the theme of kindness so we focused on that!”
Thanks to a connection through a friend who works with Children of the Promise, an organization that works to build schools and educational systems in Haiti, Ripperger was able to bring in a global kindness element. All month long students participated in a school supply drive with items being sent to Haiti to support a new school that will serve more than 220 students from PreK through sixth grade.
There was also a local connection to the activities with strong partnership from local libraries. Librarians kicked off the month by reading How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids which uses the metaphor of an invisible bucket to teach kids about kindness and empathy, explaining that every interaction either fills or empties someone's bucket, and filling others' buckets also fills your own. They left behind clear buckets for each grade level that became a central part of the fun.
“Each grade level had a different color pom pom that teachers handed out to students when they saw acts of kindness,” said Ripperger. “I have always had a special place in my heart for these types of books and teaching kids these lessons through literature. We want to show them how they can go a little bit out of their way to be kind to somebody!”
There was also a Bingo card that students could take home and complete as a way to spread kindness. While previous I Love to Read Month Bingo activities were all about reading in different places or in different ways, this year’s card included squares like “Hold the door for someone,” “Write a kind letter to someone and give it to them or mail it to them,” and “Make a list of 10 things you love about yourself.” If students earned a Bingo, they could bring their card into the library on Tuesdays to get a prize, and then go for a full blackout to earn a second prize.
Other activities included a banner about pledging to be kind and stick together against bullying that students were able to write their names on colorful tapes and add them to the banner, dress up days, and a fun assembly from Mega Jump Motivational Experience full of amazing high flying BMX bike tricks and motivational words about kindness. Fourth graders also wrote messages of kindness with white crayon which can be revealed when painted over with watercolors.
For the book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, there was some great cross-grade collaboration through Reading Buddies. With purposeful pairings of Preschool & 3rd grade, Kindergarten & 2nd grade, and 1st & 4th grades, students were able to read the book together and then work together to make cards to be sent to the students in Haiti along with the donations. So many beautiful notes of kindness were created that are sure to bring joy to their recipients.
“It was great to be able to center this month around kindness and also show a bigger outlook than just our own school,” said Ripperger. “We try to make these activities as easy as possible for teachers to implement and I have a lot of great help from my paras, reading corp tutors, and our librarian who work so hard to pull this all together. It’s worth it and so fun!”