One of my biggest goals is help students learn to love reading. At the beginning of 2nd grade, a lot of my students aren't yet independent readers and it's uncommon for those who are to know what they like. I've seen book tasting days in older grades and have been jealous of how fun they look!
I have struggled to figure out the exact way to go about this. A couple of years ago, I was able to put time into my schedule to give them uninterrupted reading time. I would read, too, and they knew not to bother me. It was SO good for them to see me read for fun with them. We would end up sharing about our books, favorite parts, etc. I saw so many benefits to this!
Unfortunately, I don't always have the same schedule and I can't possibly fit it in. This year, I struggle to even fit social studies and science into my daily schedule.
Of course another huge thing is I do NOT restrict their book choices. They are not leveled. They do not have to pick a book on their level. We discuss "just right" books and how we need to have at least one book that we are comfortable reading the words of. Otherwise, just pick what you like!
This year I wanted MORE. So I set off to find a resource to host a book tasting.
I couldn't seem to find anything geared toward younger readers and I really wanted to do this the first week of school.
So I made it book tasting worksheets for primary grades. These worksheets are flexible enough that they can act as your own book tasting template to meet the needs of your young readers.
I thought about what environment I enjoy to read in and settled on a Starbucks theme.
We started by reading Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind and I assured them we would find a book for each one of them this year.
The decorations were simple. I asked a local Starbucks to donate cups (which they did begrudgingly, but hey, they did it!) and wrote each kids' name on it. They got book tasting snacks of honey buns and apple juice while they read. Other than that, all I did was put green table runners on their desks and wear a green apron!
I wanted the book tasting worksheets they completed not to be too reading heavy. Again, many are not independent readers yet.
So the first thing we did was discuss the 4 genres I chose to focus on. Realistic fiction, fantasy, biography, and general non-fiction. Each desk group was set up with one of the genres. The books were numbered, 1-20 total. Each student had a review page and colored in 1-3 stars next to the corresponding number to show how much they liked it.
They had one minute to look through the pages of each book and/or read what they could. It's short, but it was really all the needed to see if they would be interested or not. When my minute timer went off, the rotated the books at their table. That resulted in 5 minutes per table and a total of 20 minutes of book tasting.
Next, I gave them the "menu". It had the title of 8 books. I read the first two pages of those 8 books and they rated them, too. Ultimately, I think this step can be skipped. They already knew what they liked from their independent tastings. And finally, they answered some questions about their favorite books and genres and colored a book mark! It was SO much fun! And my kids came out of it with an idea of where to start when looking for books in our classroom library the next day. You can find my book tasting resource HERE And for fun, here's how some of my coworkers set up their Starbooks book tasting! It was so fun seeing how each teacher used the book tasting template and book tasting lesson plan in their own ways. I am already excited for next year's book tasting!
If you want to go all out and do a full classroom transformation with your book tasting, check out this blog post to help. you get started!
Comments