![October: Foster Belonging- Read Across SMSD - Sponsors: NEA Shawnee Mission, SMSD, and Shawnee Mission Education Foundation]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1664555390/smsdorg/h7bpzqgxfwqzmoumqyd5/OctReadAcross.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1664555390/smsdorg/h7bpzqgxfwqzmoumqyd5/OctReadAcross.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1664555390/smsdorg/h7bpzqgxfwqzmoumqyd5/OctReadAcross.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1664555390/smsdorg/h7bpzqgxfwqzmoumqyd5/OctReadAcross.jpg","width":836}])
This October, Read Across SMSD is focused on the theme “Foster Belonging.”
Books featured in October highlight ways we all can practice getting to know, understand, and respect each other better.
“Growing an Artist” by John Parra is the featured elementary book in October. It’s a story that features a child named Juanito. He spends a day working with his father who is a landscape contractor. This experience is one that helps him understand his father better and also inspires Juanito to find ways to express himself through art. He becomes determined to use art to tell his story and share stories about the people in his life.
Megan Ellis, visual arts coordinator for the Shawnee Mission School District and Lenexa Hills art teacher, joined growing artists at Lenexa Hills as they created art in their outdoor classroom.
In sixth grade, students used cameras to photograph nature. Fourth-graders took time in art class to practice drawing what they observed while outdoors. In first grade, students created texture rubbings using bark, leaves, stumps, and other items found outside. After these adventures, students talked to Megan Ellis about how these experiences in the outdoor classroom help them tell their own stories through art.
Aayush Patel, fourth grader, talked about how fun it can be to share his art and also see the art his classmates create.
“They can see how creative I am and why I wanted to draw what I drew,” he shared. “We can see how sometimes we have different ideas in mind.”
There were so many ways to be inspired by working outdoors and by working with classmates, Margaret Lamberto, sixth grader, expressed.
“It made it easier to find beautiful angles and different things to take pictures of, especially if you have multiple people working together,” she added.
Ellis encourages anyone to spend time outdoors, and while doing so, grab drawing pencils or colored pencils, markers, or a camera and tell stories through art.
October Reading and Learning Resources
Read Across SMSD is modeled after the national Read Across America program and is led in partnership with NEA-Shawnee Mission. Access to books for Shawnee Mission students is made possible through the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation.
Here are the Read Across America October titles, encouraging readers to “Foster a Sense of Belonging.”
“Growing an Artist: The Story of a Landscaper and His Son/Cultivando a un artista”
By John Parra
“Cuba in My Pocket”
By Adrianna Cuevas
“Where I Belong”
By Marcia Argueta Mickelson
The links above provide activity ideas, discussion ideas, reflective writing questions, and related resources and more titles to try for each age group.
Click here to find out more and participate in Read Across SMSD. Post your participation on social media using #ReadAcrossSMSD.
