Luckily, kids are like sponges and there are many ways to get them excited about becoming avid readers. These are some tried and true methods I've used in my libraries with great success.
1. Cover the basics. Accessibility is key. Is there enough time in a day for students to come and choose books? Are they allowed to take out enough books to satiate their appetites? Is it open before and after school for those who can't find time during the day?
2. Family literacy. Many students in our school have parents who are learning English and are unsure how to foster and support their children's reading. So this year for all our Kindergarten students, I held a family literacy program one day a week for 6 weeks. Parents learned their way around the library, were taught skills to help their children read at home (pictures, questions, sounding out, creating connections) and were encouraged to create their own library cards. Now for families their confidence has increased, their are more reading materials at home and they feel comfortable coming to read with their children before and after school. Win!
3. Focus on student interest. No matter how well we teach our children to find and choose books, a good display catering to current interests makes choosing books fun and easy for them. After the movie release of the Maze Runner this year, I made a display of survival books. If you mix in popular items such as the Hunger Games, classics like Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet" are given new life. I always keep a Book Request List going as well, to ensure my students needs are matching up with what I'm providing. Stephen Krashen, famous for his research on reading, literacy and the importance of libraries says often “A wide range of studies have confirmed that free reading is the major factor in literacy development” (Krashen, 2012). FVR only happens when books kids are interested in are present. If you've not seen this video and have a bit of time, I'd highly reccomend (there are also many other shorter talks he's given available on youtube.)
4. Get students involved. I recently created a bulletin board called our Favourites Bookshelf. I wanted to encourage kids to be coming in before and after school so if they did, they could get a "book" to write down their favourite title and place on our "bookshelf." Not only has it gotten kids into the library, they are sharing ideas with each other about reading materials and are excited to find their new "favourite." (our bookshelf is much fuller than this picture now!)
5. Make reading fun! Any events that make reading fun are great ways to hook disinterested readers. Book fairs, author visits, Camp Read, book giveaway contests, book trailers and talks are all great ways to bring excitement back into books.
6. Cater to your audience. When I recently created a Mature Reads shelf for Gr. 6/7's at my new school, I actually heard several students cheer when they noticed it. Having books that target a specific audience, helps them focus their searching. Not to mention, it makes them feel a bit privileged with their choices and leaves the younger kids looking forward to something new and mysterious as they get older ;)
I truly don't think we can ever do enough to advocate reading to and for our students though. Ideas I would like to look at and work on in the future would be a book club, incorporating more technology into that promotion (ie. students contributing ideas to #ilovereading or creating video book reviews), and participating more in the global community of Book and Library lovers (National Library Day, World Book Day, DEAR etc.) And of course continuing to model and encouraging my staff to model good reading habits!
I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing their libraries that's working!
References
Krashen,
Stephen. (2012, April 5). The power of
reading, The COE lecture series, University of Georgia.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSW7gmvDLag
Well done! A very good, detailed blog post that outlines many achievable and practical goals and strategies for encouraging reading in your school. I loved the ideas about bringing in families, and also for targeted displays for the older students. Excellent work and really helpful blog post for any visitor! Good use of media, nice label, and good design.
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas for family literacy support and the favourites display! I will keep those in mind for the future.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a lot of really great things going on in your library!
Wow! You presented some great ideas! I am going to pass along the Favourites Reading Shelf to our Librarian. Students always love to see their ideas displayed. The idea of the mature readers section is also a good one. This is the usually the age when we see students lose interest in reading. This is a great idea to keep the spark glowing as they head into the middle school years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing all the great things that you're doing. I watched about half of the Krashen video and found it really interesting. It's a good motivator to keep insisting that students read for pleasure while at school. While watching the Krashen video I was reminded of the Daily 5 literacy program. They talk about how students need to build stamina to be able to read quietly and independently for a length of time. Not all students are able to do this and you must gradually increase the reading time in the classroom. We did this at school and it made such a difference. Students would quickly settle down to read and not just flip through pages pretending to read or go to the washroom until time was up. There is also the important component of finding a book that interests them.
ReplyDeleteI liked all your practical ideas Melissa. Good work on connecting with the parent community to support what you are already doing with students. I think your goals of extending participation beyond the library and school is great. It made me think about the Upper Primary librarian organizing a One School, One Book program where they embrace and become immersed in a chosen book. With support from administrators and teachers, all the Gr3-5s read the book in class, there are author visits and author writing workshops and food, PE games, character dress days, art projects all inspired by the book, happen. Instant book club if everyone at school knows the book!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post! I have been thinking about creating a separate section for grade 6 and 7 reads and your comment makes me think I should go for it! If your student's start sharing their book reviews on a #, I would love to hear more about that.
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