The National Education Association’s Read Across America Day promotes enthusiasm for reading by organizing reading events across the country on March 2. In the country’s largest celebration of reading, students, teachers, and readers join together to find joy in books. The NEA and Learning A-Z believe that making reading fun is essential to motivating students to practice critical literacy skills.
Get your students involved in Read Across America Day with Raz-Plus books and activities that will spark their imaginations and inspire them to make reading a central part of their lives. The books and activities below are available in digital, printable, and projectable formats that can be adapted to any classroom.
Graphic, Comic, and Humor Books
Graphic, Comic, and Humor Books use illustrations, humor and action to get students practicing close reading and other comprehension skills.
Animals Speak Their Minds
With colorful photographs of animals who find themselves in funny situations, this book engages students in imagining what animals are thinking. Read this book out loud and then ask students to complete the Wordless Book activity to fill in the blanks with their own funny lines.
The Creepy, Crawly Book of Insect Riddles
This book uses word play to encourage students to learn about how and where insects live. Read this book along with the fiction book “Firefly” and ask students to share memories or experiences with insects.
Kim: The New Kids
Students will enjoy reading about Kim and the unusual new friends she makes at school. Read it out loud and have students write their own short story with colorful and unusual characters.
Serial Books
Students will enjoy following the character arcs and plot twists of these popular fiction serial books.
Hollow Kids Series
Designed for grades 3-5, this series follows a group of friends as they investigate the mysterious happenings of a haunted forest.
Maria
With Spanish and French translations for grades K-2, this series illustrates the life experiences of a fictional character, Maria, as she celebrates holidays with her family, goes to school, and makes friends.
The Monsters
With Spanish translations for grades 1-2, these fiction/fantasy books feature colorful characters who find themselves in humorous situations.
Themed Nonfiction Series
With books in the Themed Nonfiction Series, students can choose from a range of themes to read about a topic they enjoy.
Colors
The Colors Collection gives kindergarten students a closer look at the colors that make up our world.
Giants of the Animal World
This book and resource collection helps students learn about how and where the largest animals on Earth live.
Spectacular Sports
Students in grades 1, 3, and 5 will enjoy exploring some of the world’s most popular games and athletes.
World Landmarks
Students in grades 2, 4, and 5+ can get to know the world’s most famous landmarks through photos, diagrams, and prose.
Countries Around the World
With books and resources that describe several countries and peoples, this collection encourages students in grades 1-5 to learn about geography, history, and social studies.
Numbers
Emergent readers will enjoy connecting reading and math skills with books that build number sense through number words.
Trip on a Latitude Line
Grade 3-5 students will explore geography and climate as they journey across a latitude line and immerse themselves in new places and histories.
More Resources
If you want to see more books and resources that will keep your students engaged on Read Across America Day, search our Most Popular Books on the Raz-Plus Popular Resources page.
