WRAD Wrap Up – 2017 Edition

March 1, 2017

It goes without saying that for us, a day to build community and foster a love of reading among students is just about the BEST THING EVER. We LOVE the opportunity that World Read Aloud Day provides to collaborate, learn out loud, and share ideas!

artwork by Tim Palin

This year for #WRAD17, we joined together as #CantataTeam with several of our wonderfully talented contributors to celebrate with classrooms across the country. Let’s take a look at what happened.

In Washington State, musician Mark Oblinger orchestrated a special Skype session with Craig Seasholes’ students at Dearborn Park International School. The group sang (and marched) The Ants Go Marching. They also enjoyed Little Red Riding Hood, as well as spent some time exploring The First Lady of Civil Rights: Rosa Parks. The class had a blast with Mark and the way his music really brought each of these unique stories to life!

In Iowa, illustrator Luke Flowers Skyped with the 2nd graders at VanMeter Elementary. They had a great time exploring our all-new Read, Sing, Learn series about Magic E, as well as some old favorites.

And in Connecticut, author Blake Hoena Skyped with the 2nd graders at Jennings Elementary. They read Technology Is All Around You and sang Shoo, Fly, Don’t Bother Me. We are so happy to have helped bring this pairing to fruition—the students at Jennings Elementary are true Blake Hoena and Cantata Learning fans!

Meanwhile, General Manager Katherine Coughlan-Hobson Skyped with students at Franklin Elementary in North Carolina. They had so much fun singing and learning the signs to Happy Birthday. They even spent some time exploring their own creativity by making homemade instruments!

Cantata Learning’s Publisher Patricia Stockland started her day off with a Skype session with Carole Stubeck’s first grade students in New Jersey. They read and sang a couple of Fairy Tale Tunes together: Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man. If only every day could start out with so much joy and #LoudLibraries fun!

Shannon McClintock Miller also participated on #CantataTeam at VanMeter, sharing with the students there what it was like to become an author for the first time. Her Cantata Learning books will be available this fall!

We had SO MUCH FUN celebrating reading with each of these wonderful school communities! We want to say a huge THANK YOU to each of them, as well as to our amazing authors, illustrators, and musicians who participated.

Above meeting so many engaged school communities, it was so inspiring to witness the power of music and its ability to ignite learning on so many levels. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate again! Make sure you register your school for #WRAD2018. If you’d like to partner with us for a different event in your school or library, we’d love to hear from you!