You may want to invite celebrities to visit your school to raise reading awareness. Ask city officials, local newscasters, business owners or authors to visit the school on March 2 and spend an hour with the children. If your town has ties to prominent athletes, singers or actors, you may request their attendance at the school. Making children aware of literacy can be as simple as bringing in individuals who stress its importance.
You can host a school-wide, "best dressed" contest to encourage kids to attend school in costumes as their favorite book characters. Send notes home at least a week in advance to notify parents of the contest. Ask teachers to brainstorm with the children prior to the event. It's Dr. Seuss's birthday and kids may want to dress up as their favorite Seuss characters, but tell them they can dress up as any book character they like. Build excitement by having a prize for winners. For example, one winning child from each class may receive a pizza party or special certificate.
You may want to combine Read Across America Day with a lesson about community service. As part of your celebration, ask students to recycle books they no longer want by bringing them to school. Explain that the donated books will be given to children who do not have access to books. As a thank you for their generosity, set up a small book giveaway area filled with new books and allow each child who donates books to select one book to take home.
You can hold a read-a-thon to raise money to buy new books for the school. On March 2, invite children to bring sleeping bags or blankets to school for a day full of reading. Children can solicit sponsors to pay a specific amount of money for each page read, or a fixed dollar amount for all the pages read during the event. During the day, kids log the pages they have read and work with their teacher to tally up how much money they have raised. Ask teachers and other school staff members to dress up in Seuss clothes to add excitement to the day, and decorate the school's doors and walls with books and Dr. Seuss characters in honor of the celebration.