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Reading On Campus And In Our Learning Environments

The topic this week is all about promoting reading on campus and in our learning environments.

Here are a few things happening around campus:

Humanities I & II Literature Circles

In grades 9 and 10 Humanities students are reading books through Literature Circles. Many traditional teachers worry that students will not be able to navigate books without guidance from a teacher, potentially missing intentions of the author in use of symbolism, motifs, plot development, and other literary devices. Although a valid concern, the benefits of better readers, writers, and thinkers on campus make this endeavor worthwhile. The purpose of the Literature Circles is to have the students read MORE and develop the dispositions of resilience, tolerance with ambiguity, responsibility, and curiosity.

To add structure and accountability to these conversations, Humanities teachers Bill Rexford, Cameron Virrill, Will Burke, and Spencer Phillips have students regularly complete a Peer and Self Assessment.

Here are some of the books students have read in Humanities I Literary Circles this year:

English 7 with Heidi Ryan

Meanwhile, over in the middle school, students dive into their independent reading books while Heidi conferences one-on-one with students about their writing.

Third Grade with Ted Krupman

And in our lower school, Ted models for students how to find text features and important facts in their informative reading books in their Colony Unit this month.

Across Campus

Gearing up the for Scholastic Book Fair, Robin Lindquist distributed Caught Reading Tickets to the lower school and middle school teachers. Teachers will be issuing tickets to students that they catch spontaneously reading!

Middle School Book Club

Chiara Bakalar partnered up with Elizabeth Higgins to start a book club for students in the middle school. Chiara wrote about this initiative in a recent Wink article -- check it out HERE.

A blog post from Learners Edge inspired Elizabeth and Chiara to create this book club. This post shares out 10 ways to encourage kids to read.