Read Across America, March 2

The National Education Association’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.
In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA’s Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages. Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers. And teachers and principals seem to be more than happy to dye their hair green or be duct-taped to a wall if it boosts their students’ reading. Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.
Around the country, many cities and school districts use Read Across America Day to kick off National Reading Month, and fill the month of March with special reading–related activities. Many Dictionary Project sponsors plan their dictionary distributions to coincide with Read Across America activities, to encourage children to use dictionaries to improve their reading skills.
NEA’s Read Across America webpage, http://www.nea.org/readacross, includes many resources, materials, and activity ideas that parents and teachers can use to help motivate children to read all year long.