There are SO many special events and holidays to celebrate during the month of February, but make sure that you don't miss the opportunity to share the magic of picture and chapter book read aloud experiences with your students on World Read Aloud Day!
The first Wednesday of February is designated as World Read Aloud Day by Lit World, a global organization dedicated to sharing books aloud with children at home and in classrooms around the world and promoting it as the best instructional practice for developing lifelong learners.
An engaging book, a dynamic reader, and an attentive group of listeners forges a path to understanding the world, developing vocabulary, exploring new ideas, and building empathy for others through the language of stories. Listening to your rhythm and cadence as you read aloud, laughing at your different character voices, stopping to make predictions about what will happen next, and discussing the story plot all contribute to making read aloud time a magical learning experience for your students.
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU MAKE READ ALOUD MAGIC
This year, World Read Aloud Day is Wednesday, February 4, 2026! I've created some reading and writing response resources that you can use to extend the read aloud experiences you're planning for this special day, and I hope they will help you host a magical celebration of books with your class!
If you are not participating in World Read Aloud Day this year, never fear! The activities I've designed and the literature selections I've suggested in each of the featured resouces can be used from March 2nd through 6th, 2026 during the National Education Association's Read Across America Week! They can even be adapted and used if your school hosts a Family Literacy Night!
Both of the literacy packs I created work best with fictional text, but can also be adapted for use with biographies and poetry anthologies. The materials are designed to be used in primary and intermediate grades across the curriculum, not just during the language arts block. Quality picture and chapter books are a great way to launch thematic Math, Science, and Social Studies lessons and discussions too! Both my FREE Read Aloud Response Sheets resource and my paid Read Aloud Book Reviews resource include a list of my favorite Literature Links and online resources to help you plan lessons that encourage reading and writing!
As I was planning out this post, I realized that if I wrote a summary for every one of the picture or chapter books I recommend for read aloud time, it would go on for pages and pages. Instead, I am going to categorize theme by either theme, celebration, topic, or holiday and highlight them in future blog posts.
My newest FREEBIE features a variety of reading response sheets designed to help your students practice their comprehension skills after listening and discussing your read aloud story. Summarizing, sequencing, identifying story elements, finding text evidence to prove character traits, and written response activities are provided. They can be used to guide group lessons or placed in a literacy center for independent work.
My newest paid resource provides a variety of book review templates for students to choose from and complete after your classroom read aloud experiences. Pages for them to write about their favorite characters, least favorite characters, favorite story parts, least favorite story parts, and reasons they liked the story are all provided. Color posters for you to print and display to celebrate World Read Aloud Day on February 4, 2026--or the joy of reading all year long--are included, along with blackline coloring pages for your class to enjoy!
Note that this resource is ON SALE for $2.00 through Sunday, February 8th!
Last, but not least, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Carla from Comprehension Connection and direct you to the wonderful companion resources she's created for many of my favorite picture books by Patricia Polacco. While you browse through her store, note that she has many other author study resources for my other favorite authors.....Leo Lionni, Kate DiCamillo, Jan Brett, Cynthia Rylant, Kevin Henkes....the list goes on and on! There is no better way to extend your primary and intermediate grade read aloud experiences than with Carla's literacy activities!
As always, thanks for visiting my blog and patronizing my shop!
Continue to keep a song in your heart and a book in your hand!
I hope that the resources and ideas I've shared here help you celebrate the magic of reading aloud with your students1
~Jennifer
