A great way to get elementary students excited about reading is to bring in the people behind the books they see in their school library. There are many children's book authors who are willing to visit schools. They usually have programs that involve showing the students how they developed their stories, which not only creates a sense of excitement and wonder in students but may also get them thinking about writing stories of their own.
Use a book or series of books as a theme and create reading games that students of all ages can play. For example, Dr. Seuss has many books that nearly every child is familiar with. Games could be developed around different Dr. Seuss books and characters. You can create a matching game where students have to match characters or items from the books with full or single-word descriptions of those characters or items.
There is no better time to read than when you are in your pajamas and holding your favorite stuffed animal. Declare a Pajama Reading Day and have students wear pajamas to school. To make things even more comfortable and fun, students can bring a pillow, blanket or a stuffed animal. Add tents and you can make it a reading camp-out.
Have upper elementary students dress up as their favorite storybook characters. They become the figures in a wax museum. Make the gymnasium a museum and have the students take their places in the museum. As part of the project, the students read either a description of the character they are portraying or a portion of the book in which the character appears. The rest of the elementary school students can tour the museum and hear what the wax museum figures have prepared.