April can be a super busy month for teachers. We are coming close to the end of the school year. Some are excited to have spring break, while others may be coming back from spring break. Many of us are even starting to count down the number of days until the end of the school year! :)
The month of April itself has many fun and exciting things for teachers to enjoy celebrating and to come up with creative activities for their classroom that can give students that much needed enjoyment break from the dreaded state testing!
So over the next couple weeks I want to share just a few fun ideas that I do with my kiddos and hopefully you will feel free to comment below to share some of your ideas as well.
Idea # 1: Beverly Clear Author Study for D.E.A.R. day and Author Study Posters:
The kids in my class absolutely LOVE to read. In fact this year I have many students who also really enjoy writing their own stories and mini books. So with this in mind I know this year especially my students will enjoy D.E.A.R. day where we stop everything and just relax in a special spot around the room and read.
In my class we read novels and one in particular we read is Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. Its a great discussion book and one that many students can relate on a personal level with or know someone who can. One way for students to enjoy reading even more is for them to learn about the authors themselves. So many authors actually developed their love for reading and writing as children but Beverly Cleary is one that can inspire that child who is not your average student. She struggled with reading and actually dreaded it, refusing to read except at school because she had a teacher in first grade who did not encourage her. However, the school librarian took her under her wing and introduced her to some great books and really encouraged her. This helped changed Cleary's life because it made reading fun and she developed an interest in writing as well. Her story is one that can encourage those struggling students. Cleary promoted S.S.R. (sustained silent reading) in her book Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and the national rise of the D.E.A.R. program took off. It is now celebrated on Cleary's birthday, April 12th. So if you are looking for something good to add to your day check out the following author study on Cleary. You can also check out this fun set of Children's Author Posters which make great reading area anchor charts with fun facts about some of the student's favorite authors. Like this fun fact: Jan and Stan Berenstain were inspired by Dr. Seuss and began writing their own books later to have some of them actually edited by Seuss himself.
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