How have I never done Book Character Day?! My poor previous students have been missing out! Well, not this year! I am jumping on board and celebrating International Children's Book Day. It is in conjunction with Hans Christian Andersen's birthday on April 2nd.
I can not wait to have my class participate. A few weeks ago I sent home a letter explaining to my parents what we were going to be doing. My goal was to have the students come to school dressed as their favorite book character. (I am going as Pete the Cat!)
Costumes
Let me tell you, my mom is the best! She is very crafty and always made my Halloween costumes, So naturally she has made the ones I wore into my classroom. I have been Miss Frizzle, the Cat in the Hat (purchased) and Dorthy from The Wizard of Oz.
You would think I'd be simple and wear one of those. NOPE. However, I am totally going to wear Dorthy when I do Wizard of Oz day with my kids in May. By the way, I came up with that idea when I purchased this adorable flip book! Click on the image and it will take you to her Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Now, back to my character...we all know my obsession with Pete the Cat. He is by far my favorite character. I love the lessons he teaches. So I am going to dress up as Pete and His Four Groovy Buttons.
This is where pinterest just rocks. Click here to go to an awesome book character board.
My mom is just the best and helped me get my shirt together. I NEEDED blue pants! Okay, obviously not needed. But I wanted them really bad! NY&Co for the win! (as always)
Buzzfeed also shared some awesome costumes here.
More Ideas
While writing this post I had a difficult time finding different ideas on teacher blogs. So, I reached out to the fantastic teacher community and this is what they shared!
1- A few teachers did a whole class celebrations. For example - G.P. had her students dress up as the 101 dalmatians. How cute is that! I love that idea, and actually did that for my students for the 101st day of school!
2 - Sticking with the class theme - you're going to love this one! R.J. created her classroom into an Eric Carle Museum and had her students dress up as characters from his books. Then, they ate pancakes for lunch! I think I need to do an Eric Carle day next year!
3 - Some schools can not have their students dress up for Halloween. C.N. Shared that they had their students dress up as their favorite character. Fun and creative!
4 - Finally, Jessica shared her blog post where her students made characters come to life! She had them do a book report where they presented as the main character. LOVE! Click below to go to her post.
Why Do It?
We do a lot of crazy and fun things as educators. And the reasoning is simple - it gets kids excited to learn. Days like this give our students a chance to show their creativity. We can also learn a lot about them by seeing which characters inspire or resonate with them.
I highly encourage you to celebrate books with your students before the end of the year. I'd be happy to help in any way! I am all about getting kids excited to read.
Schedule it for towards the end of the year to send them off with a blast. Or, plan it for next year and begin to create a fun learning environment.
Whatever you do - get your students excited to read! Remember teachers, you are all rock stars! You are doing amazing things inside the walls of your classroom. Keep going strong until the last day of school. Your kids need you!
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