The Book Bowl

Greetings all,
As in any school, the love of or appreciation for books and reading varies greatly among our students. Some come from a background of childhood bedtime stories and some do not; some enjoy reading during free time and some probably have rarely ever read an entire book; some read well and some do not. Our librarian and two teachers have organized an amazing program called the Book Bowl. All students are organized into Book Bowl teams which consist of grade 6-12 students and two teachers. We meet together three times a week to read books which have been selected by the organizers of the Book Bowl. The themes of the books center around the UN Millennium Development Goals - improving maternal and child health, increasing literacy globally, better access to immunizations, environmental awareness, population issues - but the books are high interest and widely acclaimed novels. The books span the spectrum of the reading and language abilities of our students, so that all students can read at least one book. It's been exciting to see more students reading around school, to see students returning books finished and checking out new ones, and to sit and read in a class for 15 minutes together. We hope that more students will realize the wonderful pleasure that can be gained from books and stories, that language and vocabulary will be richer, and that students will begin to understand some global issues and concerns through well-written books. So far, I would say, it's been quite successful.

In thinking about how many of us became passionate about books and stories, I thought that I would read aloud children's picture books to my grade 7 students. The illustrations are colorful and sometimes funny, the language is rich, and the stories easy to grasp on various levels. We have talked a lot about aspects of children's books, and now the students are writing their own children's books which they will revise together, edit together, illustrate in art class, and ultimately share with the preschool and kindergarten students. Some students are writing ABC Books with Arabic translations, which will be wonderful to share with the younger students whose primary language is Arabic. Another student is telling a story through the voice of a hawk his family rescued and raised during the summer. One student is writing about a princess and another is doing a book of emotions and faces. It's been really interesting to see what the students are coming up with since we have read story after story in class. The best part is to look at their faces while I read a picture book, see their focus, hear their laughter, and sense their enjoyment.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Jennifer