Teachers Read Too
When I came to my school, each teacher had a laminated sign beside their door "Mr.... is reading ...." This is really neat way for both parents and kids to see what their teachers are reading. They get really excited when you write down a graphic novel.
Blind date with a book-- Teaching permission, to read, leave, and recommend a book
Another campaign, that I am getting ready for this week is " blind date with a book"- I have my grade 6 and 7 students, go on a "blind date" with a book over the weekend. I wrap up the books and out cheesy pick up lines on them, then sign them out. The student have to fill out a form and return it to me after the weekend. They must read at least two chapters of the book. I try to pull some old favourites. The kids get really gitty about it. One of my favourite things is that my sheet gives permission to leave the book. " did you leave the book early...? or finish your date?"
Come in the library and look around
Before Christmas, I also did 12 days of authors instead of 12 days of Christmas. I posted details about each author and students needed to guess who it was. If they guessed all 12 authors, there form became an entry form, for a draw. It was really fun, because with the clues the students needed to use the library computers to search information or books, and go through the library. It was great to have the library in use for students outside of their library blocks. Reading over the holidays
Another link which I found students love, is of course "tumble books".. but also http://www.storylineonline.net/They have the author read the their own books, which is exciting. I alway promote this to my students before winter, spring and summer break to encourage them to read during the holidays. Especially kindergarden students because they don't take out books during the break.
I am thinking of trying something new this year ( another librarian does this in my district)..
"Double your books before the break"- to encourage reading.
I do worry a bit about lost books though... hmmm...
Drop everything and read
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2011/nov/28/whole-school-readingNeat article about reading culture that was created at a school in Essex
Reader's Choice
Next term, I am starting " Reader's Choice" This is popular with librarians in our district. We have meeting to discuss our fav books and choices for the campaign. ( which is great to promote books to each other too)
Basically, we choose 7 novel and 7 picture books. The students read them, and vote on their Favourite. It cost about 700-1000 dollars to do, because you need sets of each novel, but the students love it!! There are many ways to go about organizing it and awarding the book " the people's choice" title. I do it a bit simple, but might try to amp it up a bit this year.
Tons of great strategies here that are very engaging, fun, and fantastic at getting students to read more, and to enjoy reading. The blind date with a book is a wonderful idea and many students would give that a try for sure. Thank you for sharing all these great ideas with the class for encouraging reading. Overall, a good blog post full of engaging images, good points. One aspect to try and include for future is to "label' all your blog posts for easy searching and compiling later. "Labels" are categories, or meta-information that helps categorize your blog posts into categories you create (e.g. Literacy, LIBE477, reading, etc)
ReplyDeleteSo, that the heading....? I'll try to do that for my next post this week.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of what the teacher is reading, too! That's a great way to show students that a love of reading is life long. You have so many neat, creative ideas to encourage a love for books. I feel inspired to share with my coworkers! Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the Blind Date with a Book. I think that including some old favourites students might otherwise not look at is a great strategy. And despite how often kids are told not to, many of them still use the cover as an indication of quality. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea for "12 Day of Authors" in December! Can you share a clue that you might offer? I also worry about letting students borrow books over the break, but I think it is better to risk a few going missing rather than not allow students to continue reading their selections. I ask that K/1s select from the "easy readers" only for the breaks as they are easily replaced (although I don't think I've had to replace any yet). Thank-you for sharing your idea for promoting a reading culture!
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ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI will send the Word, docs I have for the author clues, in case anyone wants to use them. I am not sure how to add a Microsoft word link, in a comment on the blog... (any suggestions Aaron?)
So, I will post the clues to the "coffee shop" section in our discussions on connect.
I always had a flap, with an extra clue, especial for the grade 4/5-- I didn't do it for primary, because it would have added extra work for the primary teacher at the time.
If anyone is interested in the blind date sheet, I can post that too.