Tis the Season of Reading!

I can't believe it's already December! Book clubs are on hiatus so,  I thought I'd share a few ways to promote reading during this tricky time of year! Students are more than a little excited about break and teachers (including myself) are trying to get everything in before the end of the semester... Ugh! So, often the idea of getting cozy over break with a good book is not a top priority -- unless you make it one.

Here's a few of my tricks to get students excited about the Season of Reading! 

I ordered several new books from Scholastic with our Winter Book Raffle in mind! Book raffles have been an easy way to keep my students engaged and excited about reading this year. My students love graphic novels so I added Roller Girl to our collection. I also picked up two of Lauren Tarshis' nonfiction novels and Navy Seal Dogs for my fact loving students!

As a team we celebrate the season of reading with a team wide book exchange! It's one of our fun traditions right before winter break. Students participate in a "white elephant" style book swap. We sit in several circles and read a short passage, helping us pass around our books. We allow books to be gently used as well as new. We also include puzzle books and brain teasers as well. I also buy extra books and wrap them for students who are unable to bring in a book or as back-ups for students that receive a book they may have already read. As a team, we want everyone to leave with a great new book! 

Some students really get into the holiday seasons. I try and talk up my winter and "holiday" books. Often, students that need a new book are willing to try out a seasonal favorite! A few of my favorites are The Family Under the Bridge, The Last Holiday Concert, and Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas?

How do you encourage your students to cozy up with books over break?

Keeping up with Scholastic!

Forget the Jones! My #WildReaders are begging me to keep up with Scholastic! I've  previously blogged about how I manage my Scholastic Book Orders using Sign-Up Genius. You can check out that post{here}.

Since, I'm a visual learner, I thought I'd share what exactly goes home to my parents. This has been the perfect system to help me keep up with Scholastic. At the end of each month, I check the Sign-Up Genius (an email sent from Sign-Up Genius is also sent home to parents) and I make note of my two helpers for the month. Then by the first of the month, a new order goes home along with a short letter of books recommendations. Then parents create packets and send orders back to school!

As you can see this post was scheduled for October and then November sort of happened...

Grab my Scholastic Direction Sheet {here}.

What's the prep?
I set my Sign-Up Genius at the start of the school year and I did have to purchase two Stars Wars bags from Target $1 spot. After 10 minutes and $2, I'm able to keep up with Scholastic for the ENTIRE year and keep my dear readers happy!

If you're new to Scholastic and want to snag some extra bonus points use the code: 50237 at the checkout! You'll earn 250 bonus points which add up to new books for your readers!   

Happy Reading, 

Book Raffles! #Excitement

Looking for a way to bring some excitement into the classroom? 

Try a book raffle! One of my blogging besties, Literacy for Big Kids,  is a book raffle pro! After reading her posts last year, I just had to try it out myself!

Plus, I just hit the mother load of books from our first Scholastic Book Order...

So after sorting and organizing the books... I chose five books from our Scholastic order and  Crenshaw from Amazon to put in our raffle! I made sure to give a few book talks yesterday to get the kids really excited about our raffle!

Here's the end result of our raffle... 
Please note: I had every blogger intention to take photos of the adorable set up... but then life and teaching happened. My step up included these $1 buckets from Target and this book stand, also from Target.

Students took all the books home to be the FIRST reader! My two Crenshaw winners know they will get their copies in the morning and until then we have a stand-in in place!

Students were so excited to be the FIRST to check out new books! They also loved that EVERYONE was able to participate or hold their tickets for an upcoming book raffle! Both classes begged me to draw the tickets before the end of the year! #Excitement. The next questions was, "When's the next book raffle?"

Need quick tickets? Click {here}.

I just printed on Astrobrights for a pop of color and so kids could find them if they were saving them in their pencil pouch.

Here's some things to remember if you're planning your own book raffle! 

How do you keep the #excitement alive in your classroom?

Using Sign-Up Genius for Scholastic!

If you don't have a Sign-Up Genius account {it's free} you need one right away! It's the absolute best method for signing up for conferences, potlucks, parent volunteers, classroom donations, etc. You create the sign-up and then anyone with the link can sign-up... no deleting each other like in Google Drive and you can customize your sign-up to fit your needs and quantities!

Last year, I got the amazing idea from the amazing Lisa at Fourth n Ten to send Scholastic Book Orders home for parents to put together. By the time I unstaple, pull apart, and restaple to make my packets, I've taken up most of my planning period! The answer to saving time and sanity... SIGN UP GENIUS!

Parents sign up {I ask for two a month since I have two classes} and I send everything home. In an XL Zliploc bag I send home: a staple remover, stapler, packets, letters, etc. and the parents do it all for me! I ask that it be done by the end of the week to go home the next week's Thursday Folders. Super easy and such a life saver! I already have parents signed up for nearly the entire year! As a bonus, Sign-Up Genius will email them a reminder at the start of each month letting them know they signed up to help with book orders! Great for working parents or parents that can't always volunteer in the classrooms.

Get ready to go Red Apple and have parents help you along the way!

Scholastic Reading Summit Takeaways

I attended on of Scholastic's Reading Summits this past week and it was truly one of the best PDs I've attended. I left feeling refreshed, invigorated, and validated. It was amazing being surrounded by other educators and professionals that value life long reading. If you have an opportunity to attend a summit - DO IT! For $100ish dollars we had breakfast, lunch, two break-out sessions and left with some reading teacher swag! Plus, the opportunity to meet all the "gurus" of reading... Donalyn Miller, Mr. Shu, Colby Sharp, and authors like Cythnia Lord!

{Clipart and graphics courtesy of Ashley Hughes, Meredith Anderson, and Krista Wallden}

At the summit each transition was started with a short book talk. I felt myself excited to hear about some books I have yet to read! This was a great reminder that book talks have power! It was then addressed that if as teachers we gave a book talk every single day students would leave with 180 book recommendations! 180 BOOKS! One goal I have for next year is to get a book talk frenzy started in my classroom. If I start the book talks, my students could easily pick them up and carry them throughout the year. Double bonus? Book talks can easily meet Common Core's Speaking and Listening standards.

"I hope your hearts are focused on finding the perfect book for every reader in your life." - Colby Sharp

Teachers already know that all books have value but Donalyn Miller did a great job of reminding me that we need to make sure we're valuing all books - from a book on calligraphy or sharks to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul all books have value.

"When we diminish a child's reading choices, we diminish the child as a person." - Donalyn Miller

"Books belong to their readers." - John Green

I've been a reader for a long time. I remember asking Santa for a new book shelf. I did have my reading struggles but I didn't know I was a struggling reader. I begged to shop Waldenbooks for new Dr. Seuss books as a kid as saved up money to buy R.L. Stine's latest Fear Street into my teens. However, I don't remember "learning" how to be a reader. I probably don't remember because my mom, aunts, and teachers were such great reading role models. However, not all students have those great models so we need to be intentional and explicitly teach habits of life-long readers.

Some teachable habits include:

- How to dedicate time for reading

- How to maximize reading by reading during "edge" times

- How to self-select a book

"Choosing books allow students to practice making decisions." - Donalyn Miller

"Kids need books everywhere!" - Donalyn Miller

91% of all students say their favorite books are the ones they've picked themselves. 

"The only way to know about what your children are thinking is for us to talk about reading or reading their writing." 

-- Donalyn Miller

Often, I know I get too caught up in my clipboard and standards that I focus on the book the child is reading instead of the reader. Did that happen in the book? What's this book about? Check boxes, check boxes, check boxes. However, I need to be reminded to look at the reader and myself. I should be asking: What do I want to know about this reader? What do I notice about this reader? Is this reader internalizing life-long reading habits?

Every conference should end with a goal for the student and a goal for the teacher.

As we get lots of new ideas and try to implement, implement, implement we need to remember that we need to give ourselves a little grace. Not everything will be perfect right away. We may never conference like Lucy or Nancy and that's okay. I always felt like such a failure when I couldn't perform a Lucy Caulkins in both reading and writing. The most important thing we can take away is to be intentional about our practices and decide our own nonnegotiables. And if things don't work out -  that's okay. 

Here's a few conferencing tips & ideas:

If you're interested in ALL the great ideas from the Reading Summit, check out #ReadingSummit on Twitter! Check out the keynotes, sessions, and experience the best of the summit for yourself! 

How do you foster the love of reading in your classroom?