Activities to Encourage Enthusiasm for Reading

It's very challenging to start a career overseas. Not just start a new job, but an entire career. I am obsessed with Italy and feel so blessed to be here, but answer me this: how tough would it be to start a teaching career where there is absolutely nothing even close to Target, Jo-Ann Fabrics, or Dollar Tree? Shipping anything from Amazon (even UK) is a challenge because all of my packages are sent to school, and it's a challenge to find books in English (Ikea is great though!). That said, I was BEYOND excited for our biannual book fair last week! I've been trying out a few new activities this year to spark interest in reading, and am really pleased with how my three most recent activities have gone!

1. The 40 Book Challenge

Inspired by Donalyn Miller's "Book Whisperer," I've challenged my students to read 40 books this year. We've been working for about two weeks now and it's been so exciting! My students record each book that they read on a chart in their portfolios. They also add a sticker to our genre graph. I made a few changes to the genre requirements, as well as made a language amendment to the rules (I only have two native English speakers and want to respect and nurture first languages while also encouraging my students to read in English). I have been struggling with putting requirements on reading. My kids love Geronimo Stilton and Beast Quest; am I being terrible by forcing them to read something else? Last week we sat down together and talked it out. I told them that I want to expand their reading horizons and help them to find new interests and was so encouraged by their responses! Most said that within the last few weeks they'd already found a book from a genre they didn't usually read that they loved! We decided that we're open to changing the requirements at a later point if we need to, but for now we like the way the challenge is structured. 

2. New-Book Auction 

I went nuts at the book fair. I think I spent almost 100 euro during my first trip, and then went again a second time! But I'm so pumped about every book I bought, and so were my students. We took some time to go through each one together, reading through the backs and hearing from anyone who'd read the book before. Afterwards, each student was given five tickets, and we held a Chinese auction for the books by bidding for which we'd like to borrow for a week. We just finished studying probability, so it was interesting to talk about chances if you put all tickets in for one book, or a ticket in for five different books. After everyone had a chance to bid, the auction began! I absolutely loved how excited they were! The best part was when a student won more than one book. Since they could only borrow one, they had to choose which book to borrow for the week. This made things extra exciting because even if you lost out on the book you wanted most, you never knew if that book would end up being auctioned a second (or third!) time! In the end, I had a room full of eager and excited readers!

 3. Speed Recommendations

I haven't come up with a catchy name for this one yet. Basically what we did was speed dating with books. Each child picked a book that they wanted to recommend to their classmates. It had to be a book that they loved, that they thought their classmates would love, and that they thought might be new to their peers. I had them fill out a short form to prepare for the main event, where they wrote out  the title, author, and genre, a short summary (no spoilers!), and a brief explanation about why they thought their peers would like the book. You can find the worksheet I used free on my Teachers-Pay-Teachers site! We lined up in two rows, facing a partner. For the first few round, each partner had one minute to "sell" the book to their partner. After we'd gotten the hang of it, we moved down to 45 seconds. If your partner recommended a book you thought you'd like, you would write it down on the back of your paper. After each round, everyone would scoot over a spot to meet with a new partner. Logistically, I need a better plan next time. With each person scooting, they always skipped over someone. Next time it will work better for sure! Anyways, everyone came away with a few books they couldn't wait to read! The two books that seemed most popular were "Awful Auntie," and "Tuesday's at the Castle."

Taking some time to explore some of the book's
awesome features!

So many students loved the sound of "Little House on
the Prairie!"

Monday Made It: November

Hey there! I've loved keeping my travel blog this past year, and am now joining the lovely community of teacher bloggers! For my first post, I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It, a linky party that I've been spending Monday evenings stalking for a year :) Anyways, here goes!

After seeing The Teacher Garden's "Scientist of the Month" bulletin board, I wanted to create my own! My students last year loved learning about Isaac Newton during our energy unit and about different inventors before our Invention Convention. My plan is to have our "Class Decorator" (one of the favorite class jobs) switch out the materials each month. I introduce the scientist at the beginning of each month and borrow a few books from the library to have for my kiddos to read.
What I'm really excited about is the QR codes! I've been looking for new ways to use my school's tablets in the classroom, and this should be a lot of fun! I'm not 100% sure of when I'll have my students access the board, but maybe during Daily 5 Read to Self or for my early finishers.  Students will be able to grab a tablet, a pair of headphones, and explore the different resources.
Last year one of my little guys had a tough time finding his strengths as a learner. He was the first I ever went to the Child Study Team for, and ended up loving having a 'team' focused on just him. Anyways, he LOVED nonfiction, especially anything about scientists like Thomas Edison. He loved that his idol had trouble in school just like he did, but that didn't mean that he wasn't smart. I love that this will give the kids exposure to different people who have done some wonderful things and inspire them to keep learning :) I've posted it on my TPT site!

We had some boring unfinished-work type things on the board that day but I keep forgetting to take a better picture!

I am OBSESSED with Daily 5, but didn't love how I taught math last year. This year I'm using a similar model for teaching math (we use TERC Investigations at my school). This was the first thing I put onto TPT, and am SO happy to finally have it all set up! I'd like to do a post soon on how I'm teaching it in my class, so be on the lookout! The background of my board is actually made from pillowcases that I found on sale at Walmart for a few dollars last year (what I would give for a Walmart or Target here in Italy... *Sigh*). 

At least the iron's getting some use!

I had a slight problem when setting up the board; I was more excited about my new laminator than anything else I bought this summer and was so pumped to start using it at home, creating teaching materials I could use every year. While in the USA, it worked WONDERFULLY on a new set of task cards, but when I plugged it in here in Italy, it started smoking and stunk up my whole apartment with a horrible burnt plastic smell! I knew not to use an American blowdryer or straightener in European plugs, but it didn't even cross my mind not to plug in my laminator. Drats :( Anyways, I still wanted to laminate my new materials, so put them into the laminator pouches, the pouches between two tea towels and ironed the whole thing! It definitely didn't work as well as my beautiful laminator, but still, mission accomplished :)