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How Do Children Choose Books?
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From: Sue McGown <smcgown>
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 15:32:32 -0500
There are several "surefire winners". Every time I book talk titles, they are in great demand. When we have an author visit, those books are popular.
We display new books that we think will be enjoyed prominently in the middle of the library on the shelves - right at eye-level. This always draws attention to titles we want to feature. Students do read all the books by an author they have enjoyed.
There are some students who always want to have "personal recommendations" from me and I love to do that - I usually know what those students like to read and pass along books I pick out for them.
Some students are overwhelmed by the many choices and need guidance. Other students really want to search on their own and love to do that either by browsing or on the computer catalog.
One class activity which has been successful is what I call "one minute commercials". Each child in the class reads and presents a one minute sketch of the book for the rest of the class. We have 20 students in each class and 40 minute classes, so that works well. They get very excited about reading what a classmate has recommended.
Another activity I have used to introduce new books is "Quick Read". I place a book on each chair. Students read the cover, flap and begin reading the book. After seven minutes, they close the book and pass to the left. We can do that about 4 times in a class period and they can get a pretty good idea about the books in that time. Then they can check out the books they liked - or place a hold if someone else gets it first.
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 15:32:32 -0500
There are several "surefire winners". Every time I book talk titles, they are in great demand. When we have an author visit, those books are popular.
We display new books that we think will be enjoyed prominently in the middle of the library on the shelves - right at eye-level. This always draws attention to titles we want to feature. Students do read all the books by an author they have enjoyed.
There are some students who always want to have "personal recommendations" from me and I love to do that - I usually know what those students like to read and pass along books I pick out for them.
Some students are overwhelmed by the many choices and need guidance. Other students really want to search on their own and love to do that either by browsing or on the computer catalog.
One class activity which has been successful is what I call "one minute commercials". Each child in the class reads and presents a one minute sketch of the book for the rest of the class. We have 20 students in each class and 40 minute classes, so that works well. They get very excited about reading what a classmate has recommended.
Another activity I have used to introduce new books is "Quick Read". I place a book on each chair. Students read the cover, flap and begin reading the book. After seven minutes, they close the book and pass to the left. We can do that about 4 times in a class period and they can get a pretty good idea about the books in that time. Then they can check out the books they liked - or place a hold if someone else gets it first.
-- Sue McGown Lower Library St. John's School Houston, TX Megan Schliesman wrote: name="smcgown.vcf" filename="smcgown.vcf" begin:vcard fn:Sue McGown n:McGown;Sue email;internet:smcgown at sjs.org version:2.1 end:vcard -Received on Tue 05 Oct 2004 03:32:32 PM CDT
