6 Read Across America Activities You Can Use All Year

At Newsela, we think Read Across America activities should do more than celebrate reading for a single day. They should help you build lifelong readers the entire time they’re in your classroom! Read Across America Day is a great time to spark curiosity, strengthen literacy skills, and remind students that reading can give them new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities.

Whether you’re celebrating on March 2 or weaving reading-focused instruction into your lessons throughout the year, Newsela ELA has classroom-ready resources that support front-of-class instruction, background knowledge building, and skill-based literacy practice across grade levels.

Jump to:

1. Why Should Students Reflect on What It Means to Be a Reader?
2. How does ELA make a difference in the real world?
3. What helps students understand why reading is important?
4. How can you teach specific texts and literacy skills on Read Across America Day?
5. How can literature teach important life skills?
6. How do ELA videos support literacy instruction?

[1. Why should students reflect on what it means to be a reader?](id-reader)

Read Across America Day—also known as Dr. Seuss Day because it falls on his birthday—is the perfect time to help students think intentionally about who they are as readers. When students reflect on how and why they read, they can develop confidence, stamina, and motivation to support long-term literacy growth.

You can use Newsela ELA resources to guide meaningful reflection and discussions around reading habits and comprehension. Explore topics like:

• Why starting a reading habit can impact your life.
• How science-backed strategies make reading easier and more enjoyable. 
• Why reading without retention happens, and how we can fix it.

[2. How does ELA make a difference in the real world?](id-world)

Reading, writing, and literacy skills shape how students understand the world around them. Showing them how ELA connects to issues beyond the classroom reinforced the idea that reading is purposeful, relevant, and empowering.

Use real-world-focused Newsela ELA lessons to demonstrate the impact of literacy on topics like:

• Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts’ prison library project.
• Stories and texts that span generations.
• The legacy of Dr. Seuss.

[3. What helps students understand why reading is important?](id-why)

Students are more invested in reading when they understand why it matters. Real-life stories and evidence-based insights help reinforce the cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of literacy. This is an especially beneficial tactic for reluctant or developing readers. 

These Newsela ELA resources help students connect reading to real outcomes:

• Explore how low-stakes reading practice (with animals!) is helpful for shy or reluctant readers.
• See why slow reading strengthens comprehension and brain function.
• Find out how reading and writing can help people heal, cope, and express themselves.

[4. How can you teach specific texts and literacy skills on Read Across America Day?](id-texts)

You don’t need brand-new lesson plans to create meaningful Read Across America activities. Instead, integrate reading celebrations into texts and skills you already teach. This can deepen comprehension while keeping instruction standards-aligned.

How can poetry build figurative language skills?

Poetry and verse help students explore abstract ideas through figurative language. Emily Dickinson’s poem “There is no frigate like a book,” for example, offers an easy opportunity to teach literacy devices in context.

While reading, see if they can spot examples of:

• Smilies
• Metaphors
• Personification

Why do paired texts help students understand representation in literature?

Paired fiction and nonfiction texts help students analyze themes like diversity and representation from multiple perspectives. This approach builds critical thinking and strengthens text-to-text connections.

Use this paired text lesson to help students understand why diversity in books is so important:

• Read “Stuart, the Lucky Library Cat” by Carole F. Stice about a cat who wants to read books about other cats that have ears like his.
• Introduce the nonfiction selection about a teenage girl who worked on a project to expand diversity in children’s books.
• Use the annotation feature in both selections to highlight areas of similarity between the fiction and nonfiction selections about diversity and representation in literature and why it matters.

[5. How can literature teach important life skills?](id-life)

Literature naturally supports life skills learning by modeling problem-solving, empathy, and character development. Read Across America activities are an ideal way to help students focus on the meaningful life lessons they can learn from stories and poems.

You can use Newsela ELA resources to explore life skills like:

• Teamwork
• Recognizing integrity
• Seeing each other’s strengths

[6. How do ELA videos support literacy instruction?](id-video) 

ELA videos offer visual, accessible explanations of key reading and writing skills. They’re perfect for creating mini-lessons, doing review, or offering differentiation for diverse learners. They’re especially helpful to add Read Across America activities when you want high engagement without sacrificing instruction.

Take your literacy lessons off the page and show students videos about key reading and writing skills, like:

• Determining a story’s theme.
• Perspective explained.
• Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions.
• What is a narrative?
• How and why we read.

How can K-5 students build literacy skills through engaging ELA videos?

For younger learners, video-based instruction can be a powerful introduction to literacy. That’s why we’ve introduced new Generation Genius ELA video lessons for grades K-5. 

These engaging videos feature the Learning League, a loveable cast of characters who guide students through foundational reading and language concepts in an age-appropriate, highly engaging way.

Each video has supporting instructional materials, making it easy for you to integrate them into your existing Read Across America Day activities and literacy lessons.

Check out some of the League’s latest adventures in videos like:

• The Talespinner
• The Case of the Pea Milk

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Learn more: Meet the Learning League, Your Students’ New Learning Buddies

Read Across America activities can spark a love of reading

Especially on a day dedicated to reading fun, Newsela ELA keeps students engaged with high-quality instructional materials that build real literacy skills. From poetry and paired texts to interactive videos and annotation tools, we help you turn Read Across America activities into meaningful learning experiences.

Not a Newsela customer yet? Sign up for Newsela Lite for free and start your 45-day trial of Newsela’s premium products. You’ll get access to everything you need to teach reading skills on Read Across America Day and beyond.