Welcome to the October edition of the Random Read Aloud Roundup! Do you plan your read alouds ahead of time? I love using a calendar of national “wacky” holidays to introduce students to all different kinds of topics that may never come up in their other work. It’s fun to learn about new things just for the sake of learning! Here are four amazing read alouds for the month of October.
From poetry and bones to gumbo and pumpkins…there’s something to delight all of your students this month! Let’s take a closer look at each one.
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National Poetry Day (UK)
I love a reason to read poetry, even if it’s a holiday in another country! The UK celebrates National Poetry Day on the 1st Thursday of every October by encouraging citizens to share and create poems with their friends and loved ones. I don’t think anyone will mind if those of us in the US follow along!
One of my favorite poetry books of all time is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. When I was in elementary school I had to memorize one of the poems from this book, and it’s a tradition I passed on to my own students!
Teaching tie-in: choose one poem that you read aloud and have students create a “copycat” poem in the same style.
National Gumbo Day
Did you know National Gumbo Day was a thing? Well it is, and it is celebrated on October 12th every year. Depending on where you live, your students may not even know what gumbo is, so why not build some background knowledge with a quick read aloud?
” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” data-wplink-url-error=”true”>Gator Gumbo is a Cajun-spicy retelling of The Little Red Hen. A quick word of warning, Monsieur Gator is quite the naughty reptile, so you might want to find a preview of the text before you grab it for your class!
Teaching tie-in: Do a quick compare and contrast with The Little Red Hen or another similar tale.
World Pediatric Bone and Joint Day
October 19th of each year has been designated as World Pediatric Bone and Joint Day. The focus of the day is to bring awareness to musculoskeletal conditions that stem from childhood obesity.
Awareness starts with knowledge, and October is the perfect month to talk about Bones! Steve Jenkins’s delightful book will definitely get your students’ attention! I would share a few pages of this one during my read aloud time and then place it in the classroom library for your class to explore in more detail.
Teaching tie-in: if your science curriculum supports this, create and label skeletons using Q-tips or dry pasta.
Pumpkin Day
Of course, we couldn’t end October without mentioning everyone’s favorite seasonal gourd: pumpkins! The Ugly Pumpkin is a great book to squash out (yep, I went there!) any low self-esteem issues that may be creeping up in your class. This seasonal twist on The Ugly Duckling will show your students that everyone will find their season, or purpose in life, even if it isn’t what they were expecting!
Teaching tie-in: have each student write down one positive adjective about the Ugly Pumpkin on a sticky note. Collect and display the sticky notes.
More Read Alouds
In need of more books for your class? Check out these book lists:
You may also be interested in my Ultimate Picture Book Guide, which has all the best books to tie into different reading skills and strategies! Enter your name below to get the book list sent to your email!
Happy reading,
Marianna