Brunswick Acres

At Brunswick Acres, we combined SB Reads with our Read Across America Week Celebration.  We kicked off the week with a special visit from BA alum Jenna Hamza, who self-published her book “Like the Sunshine, You Are Beautiful”, full of messages of self-affirmation.  We talked about how in order to appreciate and respect others, you have to begin with yourself.  After that wonderful start, we were full steam ahead with a week of spirit days, selected SEL read-alouds, and more!  Students participated in “coin wars” to raise money for a charity of their choice and give back to their community.  In a landslide vote, the Franklin Animal Shelter was chosen to receive our donations.  All classes worked on self-portraits celebrating their unique selves that were then hung up in the hallway for other students to see and write messages of positivity on - our hallways are decorated with some beautiful pictures of our amazing and diverse student body!  To end our week, we all wore our pajamas to school on Friday and had a cozy DEAR (drop everything and read!) Day.

Cambridge

Cambridge Cougars celebrated reading with Read Across America and SBReads.  Our theme was “Reading gives you all the feels”.  During the week:

-Our Cougars shared books and read on the Read Across America/SBReads Bitmoji Library.  

-Our Cougars decorated classroom doors with the theme Be _____ - brainstorming words after reading SEL themed books. 

-Our Cougars reflected on how colors and the books made us feel.  

-After reading “Those Shoes”, our Cougars collected shoes and gave to Soles 4 Souls; we read Maddi’s Fridge and we collected canned goods for Replenish.

Greenbrook

• Aisha Saeed author visit (Amal Unbound, Bilal Cooks Daal, She Persisted: Malala Yousafzai) 12/14 - students learned about Aisha’s experiences as a person of color and how her life experience impacts her writing

• One book for each day of Read Across America week tied to a character trait; character traits were Respect, Empathy, Bravery, Kindness, and Gratitude

• The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad (Respect) - students created mandalas using only the color blue

• Stellaluna by Janell Cannon (Empathy) - students drew a picture of their favorite animal, and we talked in the library about what we can do to take care of our world to protect animals and their habitats

• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall (Bravery) - students created “real-life superpower” capes

• Leonardo the Terrible Monster (Kindness) - students created hearts for kindness

• Our Table by Peter H. Reynolds (Gratitude) - students drew pictures of things they were grateful for

• DEAR time on Friday afternoon

Constable

At Constable, the Cubs had an SEL themed Read Across America Week!  During the week, students all listened to “Be the ‘I’ in Kind”, read aloud by Principal V-C.  Students had a Read Across America door display where they had to decorate a book and write their favorite book title.  We had a very fun Stop, Drop, and Read event!  

Students also had a “guess the teacher” event, and listened to SEL bedtime stories at night virtually read by different teachers in our school.  The week culminated in an afternoon Reading Train and Mrs. Lombardi doing a school-wide read aloud of “The Power of One”.  These activities were part of a second annual Read Across America celebration, creating a wonderful tradition at Constable!