Read for the Record

Today at school, we did something so interesting.

It's called "Read for the Record",

where children from all over the world

read the same book and

get as many students to do it on the same day.

Last year, there were 258 thousand readers worldwide.

The objective of this project is

to emphasise the importance of reading... I think! ^^

... and it's organized by Jumpstart.

This year, the book was Corduroy by Don Freeman.

It's a very cute book about a teddy bear named Corduroy

who is sitting on one of the many shelves of a huge department store.

One day a little girl, Lisa, sees Corduroy and wants to buy it,

but her mom says no because they've spent too much already and

Corduroy is missing a button on his overalls.

Aware of his missing button,

Corduroy wanders around the store in search of his button.

And, Lisa, wanting him so much,

uses her money from her piggy bank,

buys Corduroy, takes him home

and sews the missing button on him.

Apart from just reading the book,

we had to work on a theme,

either friendship or respecting differences.

I personally chose respecting differences and had a wonderful time

with my students discussing the different ways we see others,

the different opinions people may hold, etc.

After reading and a little moment of sharing,

the students wrote a sentence reflecting what they'd understood

about respecting differences.

Here are just a few of their sentences.

... so we went down the hallways and stuck'em on the wall ...

It was so much fun for all my students,

and I really enjoyed doing this with them. ^^

If you want to read Corduroy online... click here! Enjoy...

*Until last year, only Playpen

was part of Read for the Record here in Brazil,

but starting 2008, seven more private schools

- including a Brazilian school - have joined in.*