615-738-READ(7323)
910-A Ridgely Road, Murfreesboro, TN 37129
UNPLUG & Read
UNPLUG & Read Month
UNPLUG & Read Month is a community-wide reading initiative that takes place each year in February. It encourages children and families to temporarily step away from electronic devices and enjoy the cultural and educational benefits that books provide. We support this initiative by sharing creative literacy activities that children, families, and individuals can engage in. We also hold a special event in our community that encourages local students to celebrate UNPLUG & Read Month.
Are you interested in unplugging and reading this February? Below are several ideas to get you started. These interactive literacy activities can be done at home, school, work, or even on a long drive.
Join the fun! Complete as many squares (activities) on this card as possible. Take photos and send to mediaevents@readtosucceed.org. Participants will be featured on our social media channels in March!
How to participate
- Create posters to promote UNPLUG & Read Month and post them around the school.
- Have a book swap in classrooms or at Boys & Girls Club, ESP, YMCA’s Fun Company, or other places where children stay after school.
- Have book discussions in classrooms.
- Ask merchants to provide coupons to give as incentives for reading.
- Plan a Family Reading Night. The event could be planned around a theme.
- “UNPLUG” during a portion of the school day and spend that time reading.
- Recruit volunteer readers to read in classrooms.
- Provide incentive/extra credit/homework passes to children who read at home.
- After school events: Let children read original stories at Boys & Girls Club, ESP, or YMCA’s Fun Company, or other places where children stay after school.
- Play Book Bingo using book titles instead of letters and numbers.
- Let students design new book jackets for their favorite books.
- Let various school staff members read a favorite book over the intercom during morning announcements.
- Use puppets for story retelling.
- Have a family book swap or book discussion.
- Movie night without the movie: pop the popcorn and have fun reading aloud.
- Kitchen closed night: order your favorite takeout and spend your free time reading.
- Take turns reading poetry (try Shel Silverstein) out loud to each other. Be dramatic!
- Get your family cozy in one room and have a mini read-a-thon. Drink some hot cocoa while you read.
- Have each family member choose his/her favorite story or poem and read aloud to others.
- Reading Tent: Grab the sheets, blankets, and flashlight to create a family reading tent. After everyone crawls in, have fun reading!
- Theme night: create a theme night based on your child’s favorite book, make something yummy related to the story (i.e., Green Eggs and Ham), and decorate and/or dress in costumes.
- Alphabet night: each person picks a book to read that begins with the first letter of their name.
- Library night: Pack the family in the car and take a trip to the local library.
- Community events: Check out community calendars and the Read To Succeed website to find out about special reading events in the community and plan to take the family to one.
- Word collage: Gather the family around the kitchen table with old newspapers, magazines, and some glue and blank paper. Cut out words from magazines and newspapers and glue them onto sheets of paper to create your own family story.
- Bilingual night: Find a book that is in English and another language, read together, and learn some new words in a different language. Create a theme night and try new foods, learning more about the culture and country.
- Have a picnic without the ants in your living room. After eating, stretch out on the floor and read your favorite books.
- Read books about animals that could be found in a zoo. Discuss whether the animals are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores. Plan a meal and discuss which animals might eat the different parts of the meal.
- Read a recipe with your child and then cook together.
- Read at Boys & Girls Club, ESP, YMCA’s Fun Company, or other places where children stay after school.
- Host an “open mic” for teen groups to read their original works.
- Start a teen book club, and pick a title popular with teens. Go to www.epicreads.com for ideas.
- Read online at Penguin’s Spinebreakers website. The content is written by teenagers for teenagers. The website offers competitions, alternative endings, reviews, posters, videos, and more.
- Record people reading books aloud and use these videos along with books to make kits for the Literacy Center or to provide for learners.
- Create and share age-appropriate reading lists with others.
- Read at a nursing home or assisted living facility.
- Game/Trivia Night: Pick your favorite book/story, create fun trivia questions, and play a jeopardy-type game to test everyone’s literacy knowledge.
- Shared readings: host an “open mic” night and allow individuals to read aloud their own creations, a favorite selection of poetry, or other readings.
- Drama night/play reading: get a group together and do an impromptu dramatization of a favorite play—or write your own.
- Host a Progressive Reading Party: Pick a favorite story or book theme—go from house to house and have food and festivities related to the story or theme.
- Host a Pajama Mama Party—get all your girlfriends together, set out the coffee and pastries, and have a book party in your PJs.
- Host a book club or reading party at your house, apartment, or subdivision complex—a great way to get to know your neighbors!
- Plan special book club events during UNPLUG & Read Month.
- Advertise UNPLUG & Read Month on your signs or marquees and in your staff rooms.
- Host a theme day and have employees come dressed as their favorite book characters.
- Host a book swap in the employee break room.
- Give employees an extra “reading” break during the day.
- Promote UNPLUG & Read Month to your customers/clients.
- Offer a book as a promotional giveaway/incentive.
- Start an “in-house” book club to meet monthly during lunch hour.
Fill out the official Read To Succeed UNPLUG & Read Bingo card as much as you can, and send us a picture along with the list of books you read, and we’ll share it on our social media at the begining of March!
