Tag: Youtube Channel

Best Virtual Activities to Celebrate Read Across America & National Reading Month

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March is National Reading Month. Schools dedicate time for kids to enjoy reading at all age levels by incorporating fun-filled literacy activities. These activities can be used throughout the month, not just during Read Across America week.

Virtual reading activities can still promote the love and joy of reading. In fact, there can be even more creativity to be had in the online environment.

D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read)

This is an oldie, but a goody. D.E.A.R. is one of those activities that can be done at any age, that allows kids to choose whatever they want to read. Whether it’s a graphic novel, or a classic piece of literature, giving students time to just read is always beneficial. However, if you’re looking to take this classic idea up a notch, add in an extra step to increase student engagement. Pose a question for students to answer in the chat, on Padlet or a Google doc so all can see the responses. Some really great prompts include: What kind of reader should choose your book? If you like ____________ then you’ll love this book because…

Themed Reading Days

Similar to D.EA.R, having students participate in themed reading days adds a little bit of fun to reading time. Teachers have more creativity with this chunk of reading time. My personal favorite themes are:

*Camping– when we think about camping, many of us instantly picture a roaring fire, s’mores and the great outdoors.

Some great ideas to make this set up virtual is to have a video of a campfire going on in the background, have kids wear camping clothes, make microwave s’mores using a recipe like this one, and allow kids to choose one of these ghost stories to read during class.

*Beach Day– students should bring their devices on the ground while sitting on a beach towel, wearing shorts and a t-shirt with flip flops, so they can read their favorite book. Personally, I prefer to sit in a beach chair for added comfort :).

*Coffee Shop- with the popularity of Starbucks, many students LOVE coffee shops. Kids should sit in their most comfortable chair with their favorite beverage (hot chocolate, tea, smoothie, etc.) and read some Time for Kids articles.

*Pajama Party– this is by far, my absolute favorite theme. Who doesn’t like to read in their pajamas? Students should wear their pajamas to class and bring a copies of their favorite bedtime stories to read.

Read Aloud Videos

As educators, we know that we are working with the YouTube generation, so why not incorporate videos into the classroom? There are TONS of read aloud videos on YouTube from picture books to chapter books. You can check out my latest read aloud video below.

My personal favorite read aloud channel on YouTube is Storytime Now for picture books.

School Wide Story Time

Now more than ever, schools are really trying to encourage school spirit and socialization in safe ways. Holding a school wide story time is a great opportunity for all students to come together and listen to a story. If the plan is to make this a one time occurrence, I would suggest reading a few picture books, especially for elementary kiddos. If this will be repeated a few times I recommend a short chapter book like Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, which is one of those books that appeals to grades K-6.

Guest Reader Visits

Sometimes it’s good to change up the readers in the virtual classroom, and one of the easiest ways to do so is to have a guest reader. Having parents or even other teachers in the building read a story adds some extra excitement to reading time. Whether the reading happens live, or a parent/guardian sends a recording of the reading, having difference faces and voices reading goes a long way. If you’re unable to find guest readers, a website, like Storyline Online, is a fantastic option for any elementary classroom. Storyline Online features popular children’s books read aloud by different celebrities.

Student Choice

As educators, we know to try and give students choices as much as possible in the classroom. Why not let kids pick the book the teacher reads? Online platforms Vooks and Epic! are amazing resources for activities like this. For more resources for teaching reading online, check out this post.

Divergent is a great read aloud book for grades 6-12.
Divergent is my all-time favorite read aloud book for grades 6-12.

Teacher Read Aloud

While all of these ideas are great options to celebrate the joy of reading, sometimes just reading to a class is engaging. Whether a teacher reads a book from the curriculum, or changes it up by reading a personal favorite, kids LOVE being read to all the time. For more specific suggestions about virtual read alouds check out Effective Read Alouds in the Virtual Classroom.

It is possible to celebrate National Reading Month in the virtual classroom.

Don’t be afraid to get creative and have fun with reading activities. We always want to show kids that reading is enjoyable, even if it’s being done virtually.

Little Reading Coach is a certified Teacher of English (K-12) and Reading Specialist (P-12) offering online reading,  writing and home-based learning support tutoring services for students in grades 6-12. For more information click here.

The Edupreneur’s Side Hustle Handbook Book Review

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Since I began teaching I’ve always had at least one part time job. I’ve tutored, been an official scorer for Pearson, and taught Saturday school. I’ve always had big dreams, but living on a teacher salary isn’t that easy.

A year and a half ago I decided to completely change my life. I took a really big risk (switching from being a full time virtual teacher to a part time one) to follow an idea.

Today, in addition to offering tutoring services, Little Reading Coach has a YouTube channel, a blog :), a Teachers Pay Teachers store, and some additional happenings coming soon. I’m an edupreneur. And, guess what, you can be one, too!

The Edupreneur’s Side Hustle Handbook: 10 Successful Educators Share Their Top Tips, is an incredible guide to help inspire and motivate teachers to make a difference (and make money).

I came across this book while scrolling through Instagram, since the book was released in May. I’ve been following Jen Jones (an incredible literacy guru) for a while, and I often wonder, “how does she do it?”. This book finally answered my question!

Readers learn about how 10 educators (Eric Crouch, Lisa Dunnigan, Kristen Donegan, Michelle Ferre, Cynthia Frias, Jen Jones, Kisha Mitchell, Kayse Morris, Bryce Sizemore, and Tosha Wright) not only got started, but created brands for themselves in the education world that isn’t in teaching or administration. As teachers, we often feel that we are limited in making money in the system, but these inspiring educators show readers how to take their experience and passion and turn it into a side hustle. YouTube, podcasts, professional development, TpT, and more are mentioned to show teachers the possibilities that exist.

Being super transparent, I LOVED this book. I have one word to describe all of these authors: honest. Each and every single one of them discuss all sides of having a successful side hustle. There are no Instagram filters used to focus on the glamor. These edupreneur’s give readers the good, the bad and the ugly about teaching, wanting to make a difference, starting a business, and making money. The amount of hours, weeks, months and years they have put into gaining followers and creating quality products reminds us that success does not happen overnight.

The structure of this book is truly like a handbook. Throughout the text there are places for readers to stop and reflect using questions based on the passage. The questions are thought-provoking and are meant to help readers brainstorm and think outside the box. Each author has their own chapter, which is broken up into sections. The length of each section is ideal, not once did I start to zone out or flip a few pages to move ahead. The writings are concise, informative and personal, which is a superb combination because it allows readers to relate to the author’s while learning important business aspects. I felt like I was getting advice from friends. There are also key ideas and tips highlighted throughout the book in bullet form, text box or italicized to help emphasize some of the big ideas. Yay text features!

This book will ignite a fire in any educator thinking about starting a side hustle. Readers will not only feel informed about the business side of this industry, but also supported because the experts share so much about their personal experiences. My biggest takeaway from this handbook is to go for it. So what if there are YouTube channels already out there. So what if there are a million TpT stores. Go for it.

To purchase the book click here.

Little Reading Coach is a certified Teacher of English (K-12) and Reading Specialist (P-12) offering online reading,  writing and home-based learning support tutoring services for students in grades 3-12. For more information click here.

Arial the Youtuber Book Review

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Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book from the author to facilitate this review. As always, all opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.

I absolutely love that I have connected with so many incredible authors over the last few months. Every time I read a new book I remember how powerful words truly are.

Arial the Youtuber, by Mary Nhin, is a fabulous picture book about a unicorn on a mission to encourage others through her Youtube channel.

This is my second blog book review for Mary Nhin, (click here for How to Win the World Cup in Pajamas ) and again I’m in love with her work. Mary is a true boss babe, who is building an empire with her whole family (so amazing!). Grow Grit (her business) is all about positivity and following a dream.

In this book, Arial learns a valuable life lesson that the way we speak to others makes an impact (both positive and negative). By encouraging others we can all make a difference in someone’s life.

Arial is an extremely relatable character. She says the wrong things without meaning to. Personally, I am totally guilty of doing just this, so I instantly felt a connection to the main character. After an inspiring talk with her mom, Arial learns how popular Youtube is and decides to encourage others by creating her own Youtube channel.

As a teacher and a mom, I thought it was so clever that Arial did research, created a checklist and got permission from her parents before diving into the world of Youtube. I’ve seen so many students just want to jump into a project without doing the necessary research, so having Arial take these steps sends a great message to young readers.

Once Arial is ready to go, we are with her while she makes, edits, and posts her first video. I was really hoping to know how successful the video was, but as readers we are left with a viewer leaving Arial a positive message, which is just as delightful.

I’m also slightly obsessed with the illustrations. They truly help readers comprehend the story and learn new information (checklist for creating a Youtube channel). The bright colors help create an upbeat and happy vibe throughout the reading, which enforces the message of the text.

As if the book couldn’t get any better, there are worksheets at the end!! My teacher heart did a happy dance because I could totally see this book working as an anti-bullying activity for grades K-2. There’s vocabulary, discussion topics, a writing component and a drawing piece, which would make for a great multi-day lesson plan.

Click here to purchase the book.