Greetings all. The Reading Nook book club is off to a good start. It was very nice to see the kids respond and participate. I thought it would be a good idea to debrief so we could see what worked and what did not. If you have a minute, can you please post your thoughts and comments on the blog?

Thanks a ton for doing this.

viji

I requested this book from Verona library. Hopefully it will give us some more fun ideas.

http://www.kidsbookclubbook.com/

Hi everybody,

I'm trying to brainstorm about how I might lead tomorrow's book club session. (An afterthought that I am injecting... I want to talk about whether the kids LIKE to read. It is an assumption of mine that they do, but I think it's worth addressing up front)

• I was thinking of having the kids introduce themselves by telling us about a favorite character in a book they have read. Tell why they they like the character.
• We might explore what they want to get from Book Club (explore different kinds of prose, expand their vocabulary, find new favorite writers, become more comfortable reading aloud, explore acting/bringing a story to life, develop storytelling skills themselves, etc). Perhaps we will find common ground within the group to build upon.
• I think we will need to decide whether this is something they want to spend time on outside of school or keep it to a schooltime only effort.
• We will spend some time deciding on a name for our group and perhaps develop a group crest of sorts.
• we will create a list of activities that they find exciting. A Reading Nook "to-do list."

Viji, do you see this first meeting as pretty small group driven? I think that was what Carrie suggested, and we later discussed. Anybody have other ideas about how they will lead their first day? I'm with Sara. I'm a bit anxious about this. Never been in a teaching position per se. I like that this will translate into how I motivate my own kids. I don't think I do enough of that. There is always room for improvement!

Eager to hear other thoughts,
Dagny

Hi

I had talked to the person in the children's section of the Verona Public Library last week and she was open to the possbility of extended check-out of books for the reading club. We could also place a hold on copies in other libraries if we all decide to do the same book for each group.

I am planning to bring in some books I have that the kids may like, on Friday. If you would like to do so too, we can add that to the set of books Carrie already has and we could get started. If we do not have multiple copies right away, we could draw lots and get the groups to make their choice.

Do feel free to post your thoughts on this blog. Looking forward to Friday.

viji

• Reading Program – some thoughts
  
  
  Start with a teacher’s evaluation of skill level. Form groups of kids – decide on whether we want mixed skill levels in a group or similar skill levels in a group.
  This was done today. Here are the groups
  1. Tia’s group – Kasey, Niko, Christopher and Hannah
  2. Sara’s group – Kiva, Eve, Michael and Vivek
  3. Dagny’s group – Emma, Kaycie B, Ryan and Akhil
  4. Viji’s group – Sophia, Abi, Jonah and Esteban
  5. Susan’s group – Lillian, Simone, Jack and Sage
  6. ? Group – Kings, Sam, Cole and Nithin
  7. ? Group – Caherine, McKenna, Elliot and Josiah

The last two groups have not been assigned a parent yet. We have four other parent volunteers.

• Simple exercises –this works for most kids: advanced or basic, but best for early reader
• Ice breaker exercises – introductions, without using words (Carrie’s idea) etc.
• Story building from pictures – pick or create a picture of some scene and get the kids to make a story about it.
• Story building game. Each kid gets to make a sentence of the story.

Book lists – discuss favorite books kids have already read

• Pick their favorite character– identify characters you like
• Describe the character – their understanding of the character
• Read the book in their voice/mannerisms etc.
• For early readers, as a warm up, we can do reading of simple stories, rhymes, songs in multiple voices

Pick a book all kids in the group can agree on

• Read a page/chapter at a time
• Play tag – choose the next reader and suggest a voice
• Write down words that are new – at the end of the session, look up dictionary for meanings of those words

Finish a book – follow-up exercises

• Character changes
• Be the author
• Figure out motivations
• Suggested exercises from the internet

Final presentation – choose a play or story which everyone gets to read aloud in front of teachers, classmates and maybe (?) parents

There are a lot of books in the room downstairs at school. We can pick from those, books that you would like to bring from home, library etc…

Hi all. Thought it would be nice to have a place to share ideas, thoughts and concerns and discuss things before the reading club meets. The address is readingnookclub@blogspot.com. I hope this will be useful.

viji