Read Across America Day: What Can YOU Do?

March 3 was Read Across America Day, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday- many organizations have activities planned to help create a nation of readers.

The First Lady and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel welcomed a star-studded lineup of readers and 400 local schoolchildren to the Library of Congress for the national kickoff of NEA's Read Across America. 

The First Lady was joined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Jessica Alba, Superbowl champion Donald Driver, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi and chefs Carla Hall and Mike Isabella, designer Camila Alves and actors Bridget Moynahan, Jeffrey Ray Valdez, and Mehcad Brooks, along with journalists Norah O'Donnell and Luke Russert.

In other book news, Two lucky teachers in each state have been chosen to receive a special prize of two hundred books each from the Scholastic Book Clubs' ClassroomsCare program. These one hundred winners will then donate one hundred of the books they receive to a local charity of their choice and keep one hundred for their own school.

Winners were picked from more than 35,000 entrants in the 2010 "Care Where You Are Sweepstakes," an annual highlight of the Scholastic ClassroomsCare program, which donates more than a million books to children in need each year.

Since August 2010, more than 8,592,613 books were read as a result of the program in 100,000 classrooms.

How Can you  Read Across America?

Check out the Read Across America Pledge site. You'll find readings large and small, readers tiny, readers tall. And don't forget to add your own, whether it's a school, library, classrom or home.

Book folks at Random House have put together a terrific Read Across America resources page featuring a teacher's guide, activities, games and so much more. Visit  Seussville for a Seussational reading adventure.  

And the March issue of Parenting Magazine features a spotlight on NEA's Read Across America. Visit the website for a host of reading resources for parents, including The Guide to Raising an Early Reader; The Best Books to Read with Your Kids; 5 Easy Ways to Make Reading Fun; 12 Reading Activities That Really Work, and The Best Books to Pass On to Your Kids. 

In other resources,  Reading Rockets has created a family literacy "bag" of activities for Seuss favorite Green Eggs and Ham to help parents read with their children. Explore the rest of the site for more literacy bags, including an upcoming literacy bag for The Lorax. 

What better way to celebrate the joy of reading than to stock your shelves with your favorite Dr. Seuss books?

Our friends at First Book, the nonprofit organization that TEAM AUDREY’s donation for the “Clean Start Challenge” will benefit, have made it ridiculously easy to get awesome books inexpensively for your school. All you have to do is the following:

• Register your school or program with First Book.
• Browse the First Book Marketplace's selection of Dr. Seuss titles from Green Eggs and Ham to Hop on Pop to Cat in the Hat, all for around $3.00 a book.

And don’t forget to vote for TEAM AUDREY to help us help more kids to get their First Book!