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Our local school is next door to the town library. There is a program through the winter that has kids (5th and 6th grades) going to the library for an hour every Wednesday. They are in groups of 5 or 6 kids and each group is led by a senior citizen from the area with one or two other adult volunteers.
There is a list of books, each group is assigned a book each week and they rotate so each group reads each book. They sit around a table in every nook and cranny of our little library and discuss the book from the week at length. At the end of the session, the librarians pick up the books and redistribute them to other groups.
The waiting list is long for this program and the kids love it. Mine participated while I homeschooled her and she had a great time while getting her reading done.
That sounds really fun.
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Originally Posted by bongo
Our school district has battle of the books which gets a lot of kids reading to try out for the competition:
Thanks for the link. The books are cheaper to buy there than on Amazon or at least the one that I looked at. I probably would not be interested in a competition as many of the kids at a particular school don't like reading in general.
Statistics show that the best thing for children's reading is to see their parents read. Regardless of what the school is doing, parents can help their children at home by seeing them read and by making reading materials available to their children. The materials can be as simple as magazines, graphic novels, newspapers, Wii game instructions (ha!) and do not need to be constrained to "educational" materials. When children find the value in reading (i.e, learning how to do things) they will do it more.
Still, it would be interesting to learn about some unique and effective techniques used in schools.
Statistics show that the best thing for children's reading is to see their parents read.
That's not true. Kids will only read if they are so inclined. It has been proven that they either will, or won't but it has nothing to do with whether the parents are readers.
In our family there are 5 siblings. My mother is a reader, my sister and one brother are readers, but not the remaining three.
I am not much of a reader but mine are all voracious readers; one fantasy, one fiction and one informational.
Still, it would be interesting to learn about some unique and effective techniques used in schools.
Well, I was thinking more in the lines of not doing what some of the schools are doing. There is not really a lot of time for discussion which allows opportunities for improving articulation on subject matter or literature. The materials that are used are worksheets and books on how to read. The discussion usually centers around small reading groups in which the student reads a passage aloud and then all must answer a comprehension question. If they get it wrong, the teacher corrects them. Same old instruction I received I am afraid.
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Originally Posted by NoExcuses
That's not true. Kids will only read if they are so inclined. It has been proven that they either will, or won't but it has nothing to do with whether the parents are readers.
In our family there are 5 siblings. My mother is a reader, my sister and one brother are readers, but not the remaining three.
I am not much of a reader but mine are all voracious readers; one fantasy, one fiction and one informational.
This is what worries me. If there was a book club started, would it only attract the students who like to read regardless if their parents read? The idea was to attract struggling readers. It doesn't mean that struggling readers=don't like to read but it could in some cases.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I started a book club for my daughter when she was in kindergarten. We invited some friends to join us. We read the books to the girls and then we asked them questions, and they did a related craft. Our girls are now going into 3rd grade, and the book club is still going strong, although some girls did drop out, and we stopped doing it for awhile in 1st grade. Now the girls read the books themselves, and the discussions have become more than a question/answer period. Other girls have joined in. I have mentioned this club to many moms at our elementary school, and most like the idea but don't think they/their children have time for it. We meet once a month in each other's homes. The girls look forward to it because after book discussion, they get to play. They all go to different elementary schools, so it's the one time per month they get to see each other.
I agree that the children who like to read (or moms who would like them to read) would be the ones joining it if started at a school. My daughter was not an avid reader. She likes to read but does not love it like I did when I was her age, but we make the club fun, and try to find books that they enjoy reading which encourages them.
Also, our library has a book club for children 9 and up.
. . . The materials that are used are worksheets and books on how to read. The discussion usually centers around small reading groups in which the student reads a passage aloud and then all must answer a comprehension question. If they get it wrong, the teacher corrects them. Same old instruction I received I am afraid.
This is what worries me. If there was a book club started, would it only attract the students who like to read regardless if their parents read? The idea was to attract struggling readers. It doesn't mean that struggling readers=don't like to read but it could in some cases.
Wish I could remember exactly how the expression goes, but it is something to the effect of doing things the same old way gets the same results, and you'd think some would recognize when it ain't working.
Worksheets? Ugh. Answering comprehension questions? Ugh. There are ways to 'test' for comprehension without the boring, rote comprehension questions.
Retired HS English teacher, I applaud you for wanting to do things differently. You might consider getting lists of books specifically geared to high interest/ low reading levels to get your Book Club started. Maybe ask the targeted kids what they want to read, and if not read, then learn about, and go from there?
There are all sorts of activities that can be done with reading a book as the jumping-off-point that don't have to involve worksheets and comprehension questions. I used to make good use of film, and show a scene, or scenes, as 'teasers' and supplement with reading. The kids could make predictions -- what will the character say, or do, next? How do you know? Even young children can find lines in a book for support, but don't kill a book by over-analyzing, over-working it.
With a little prep time, you can find different works to address all elements of a story: character, setting, plot, theme, and point-of-view. Make the books come alive, and encourage learning more -- for example, a book set in India can include making paper dolls of a character(s) in native dress, or getting on computers to research recipes (or try cookbooks from a public library). When the kids gather to talk about the work, even music appropriate to the book can set the scene, or start a discussion. Be silly, fun, and imaginative. Include short poems to spark a discussion, draw analogies. Draw maps of the village, find places on a map, and in real time, get the weather conditions for a specific place (via a computer).
If you are a reader, what things make it real, or fun for you? Keep that in mind with the Book Club. Bring in local authors. Read especially compelling, scary, or funny scenes aloud with kids, or find people who have such talent, and get them to read select segments of a work aloud. Supplement, again, with scenes from film -- if not one made from the work, perhaps something similar.
Throw items in a bag, or a box, related to a work, and have children draw them from the bag, and tie it in to the book. Sometimes, this is a good way to get kids talking. You can also write questions on a slip of paper, and put them in a pail or bag or whatever, and let the kids draw the question for discussion.
The more the readers are involved the more fun it will be, and will encourage them to continue reading. I've noticed more and more elementary schools where I live are forming Book Clubs, and the teachers invite parents to plan activities, and come into the classroom to read with the students, or do supplemental activities with the books and reading materials.
Our schools have the Accelerated Reader program and book clubs for grades 4-8. The book clubs are an after school activity and they meet weekly. The AR program is very popular here because of the prizes that are given to kids that reach their goals each trimester. The AR program is an extra program, its not required. Usually half of the students reach their AR goals each trimester. My kids both like reading, but they both struggle a little bit. It's nice that they both enjoy reading, so I don't have to be pushy to get them to read. My daughter is old enough for the book clubs this year and she is very excited. The book clubs make some neat projects that are displayed at the school library.
Honestly, I suspect one of the reasons our local elementary has none is because no one would join.
The fourth grade teachers have sucked every drop of joy out of the process for even the most avid of readers. All fourth graders are expected to read for a half hour five nights a week, then answer a set of questions about what they've read. By the time this is done reading has become a chore, a long stretch of homework, and the teachers' goal of creating readers turned on its head as they destroy any desire to do anything of the sort.
The year my children were in fourth grade every single one of the kids in the Gifted class refused to do the assignment. Since at any given time half the non-gifted kids weren't doing their work just on general principle, the 4th grade team gave up by mid-year.
We'd started homeschooling by then, though. It took me a good month to even get my kids to go near a book. Now that it's not a chore, we keep the library in business.
IMO 30 minutes of reading isn't excessive that's basically 1 sitcom. I can't believe that parents went along with their kids refusing to do an assignment.
Anyway, when I was in elementary we had a book club in the classroom and every Friday the people who'd completed a book and passed the test were invited to an ice-cream social or movie or whatever with kids from other classes. The best part was that we were allowed to pick our own books off a pretty expansive list so you read whatever interested you.
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