It’s April! Celebrate D.E.A.R. with AIM-VA

D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read), is a national month-long celebration designed to remind individuals of all ages to make reading a priority and to honor the Newberry Award winning author, Beverly Cleary. Mrs. Cleary wrote about D.E.A.R. in her book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8 which was published in 1981. D.E.A.R.'s sponsors are telling everyone to "drop" whatever they are doing, including chores or errands, and pick up a good book to celebrate our beloved author, her timeless stories, and the joy of reading during the month of April. Make sure your students have a good selection of D.E.A.R books to read on their digital devices so they can contribute to classroom conversations as well as practice their reading accommodations.

AIM-VA can help your students celebrate! AIM-VA has 3 titles:

Be sure to order early so your students have the opportunity to read Mrs. Cleary's books before participating in other D.E.A.R. activities!

Engaging activities to celebrate D.E.A.R can be found at the Drop Everything and Read website: http://www.dropeverythingandread.com/resources.html. There are a variety of activities such as prompts for creative writing, keeping a journal, completing a Ramona character analysis, and recording lessons Ramona has learned.

AIM-VA can make these activities and other D.E.A.R Curriculum-based Materials accessible for your students with print disabilities. Once this is complete, students can write their D.E.A.R. poems, narratives, or notes right on the D.E.A.R. activity sheets using their computer or mobile device.

Here's how!

• Pick out the D.E.A.R. materials your student needs
• Order a PDF: Accessible from AIM-VA
• Use software such as Adobe Reader DC

A list of books featured during this year's D.E.A.R celebration can be found at http://dropeverythingandread.com/NationalDEARday.html. D.E.A.R is featuring book series such as Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Warriors by Ty Patterson. They also have Multi-cultural read aloud titles included on the D.E.A.R reading list. Check out great books like Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata and The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt.

Offer D.E.A.R Reading Incentives

• The Wonderful World of Beverly Cleary Reading Checklist
  Track D.E.A.R. reading progress all month long!
• D.E.A.R. Sticker
  Print this template on sticker sheets to create a very en(D.E.A.R.)ing giveaway item.
• D.E.A.R. Certificate
  Give a personalized certificate to everyone who loves to spend time reading.

Send your books in now!
Let AIM-VA help you have your student's books ready for the opportunity to explore Beverly Cleary's books, read a multi-cultural book or become involved with a book series? Give them the opportunity to be a part of the D.E.A.R excitement.