World Read Aloud Day—A District-wide Initiative in Simsbury

February 5, 2020, was World Read Aloud Day (WRAD), an opportunity for people around the world to celebrate the joy of reading aloud and advocate for literacy as a basic human right. This initiative originated from our Simsbury Public Schools English Language Arts Vertical Team, which continues to find ways to promote literacy in all classrooms. Although WRAD has been going on for several years, 2020 marked the first time Simsbury officially celebrated the event as a district.

Planned experiences were implemented at all schools. At Simsbury High School (SHS), about a dozen students watched Jacqueline Woodson in a TedTalk speak about the importance of reading. Students also had the opportunity to choose from other activities that emphasize the importance of literacy. HJMS students and sixth graders had similar experiences.

According to Director of Elementary Curriculum and Student Assessments Betsy Gunsalus, an impressive number of SHS students—180!—travelled to many of the K-5 elementary classrooms to lead a read-aloud activity. Explained Elementary Writing Coordinator Melanie Meehan, who organized the event in partnership with SHS English Department Supervisor Emily Drago, “In the spirit of having a community-oriented event that celebrates the joy of reading, a group of high school students were bused from the high school to elementary schools. Within the classrooms, high school students read a carefully chosen picture book to classrooms and engaged in a discussion around the importance of reading.”

She added, “Goals for the day were not only to communicate the importance of reading with this community event but also to deepen the understanding of the privileges that come from knowing how to read.”

Each of the books were carefully chosen for their important themes, books like Kat Zhang’s Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, a tale of a child who longs for perfection but finds a creative solution to overcome her cooking challenges, or Lupita Nyong’o’s Sulwe, which explores issues of colorism and self-esteem and teaches that true beauty comes from within. In Jane Perkins’s fourth grade classroom at Tootin’ Hills, the book The Proudest Blue, was penned by Olympic medalist and social justice activist Ibtihaj Muhammad. It is the story of a younger sister who worries about her older sister being bullied for wearing hijab to school. The class watched a video of Muhammad talking about her experiences as a Muslim living in America. Despite not always being accepted or understood, she went on to become an Olympic medalist in fencing, and of course, became an author. Said Muhammad, “Don’t let others’ misconceptions define you and hold you back.”

SHS senior Riley Peterson visited a kindergarten class at Latimer Lane Elementary School. He commented, “I truly had the most wonderful time with the kids—their passion for learning, sharing, and engaging at such a young age is both remarkable and inspiring. Not only was it so fun to give back to the same schools that have helped us ‘big kids’ to reach where we are today, but to get to share an experience such as this with the younger generation really brings our time in the Simsbury school system full circle. To connect with the students both as a group and as individuals was truly something special, and I hope that there will be more opportunities for SHS students to do so going forward!”

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Erin Murray observed, “Providing learning opportunities that connect our high school students with our elementary students is so powerful. The excitement from the younger students when working with the visiting high school kids was evident and caused everyone in the room to be so highly engaged. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, and all the books chosen were outstanding!”