Mark your calendar! The 10th annual World Read Aloud Day celebration will take place on Friday, February 1, 2019. This annual advocacy day, presented by global literacy nonprofit LitWorld and sponsored by Scholastic, unites people around the world by highlighting the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories.
Why is reading aloud so important? Reading aloud to children regularly from birth not only fosters language development, literary and informational text knowledge, and social emotional learning, but is also crucial for children’s happiness and development as joyful readers. In fact, research from Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report™ found that the majority of children ages 6–17 from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Canada love read aloud time at home because “it’s a special time with my parent.” But, many parents stop reading aloud to their children as they get older.
To encourage the importance of reading aloud and storytelling at any age, register to join World Read Aloud Day 2019 and discover the free resources available online to help plan your own celebration: http://www.litworld.org/wrad.
On social media, join the conversation using #WorldReadAloudDay. You can also listen to Pam Allyn, Ernest Morrell, Nick Cannon, and Andrea Davis Pinkney discuss read-alouds on the Scholastic Reads podcast, here.
Stay tuned for more World Read Aloud Day 2019 updates!
