Past projects 2
Brilliant Brains Need Books, Books, Books!
Funded Aug 18, 2021First of all, thank you so much for your donations in support of my "Brilliant Brains Need Books, Books, Books!" project. It could not have happened any other way. My classroom library has certainly grown considerably, and I can hardly keep up with the acknowledgment and celebration of students completing novels.
Each day, we read books of our own choosing for approximately 15 minutes. (Some days it goes a bit longer . . . it is not always so easy to pause in the middle of a dynamic moment!) From there, I do a variety of activities relating to our reading. Some days, we create six-word "stories" based on what we have read. Other days, we fill up a poster with our #hashtags to recognize key moments in our books. Along with this, I have students sketch out and draw important scenes from their books or describe what a character did, felt, saw, and said. And other times, we simply circle up and share out favorite moments in our stories.
A few students in particular have become my book recommendation gurus. When a new student joins the class or finishes a book, I have one of my gurus direct the student toward books that they would recommend. I feel that their peers are often the best ones to recommend a novel, rather than it always being me.
All in all, this has been a very successful and enjoyable project, and I can't wait for it to continue.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Chalmers
OMG, I Love That Book
Funded Feb 10, 2019After just a couple of days of selecting books, students began devouring the novels. Several of the fiction selections–Long Way Down, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Dear Martin, Ghost Boys, Piecing Me Together–have passed through multiple students' hands. In addition, some of the nonfiction choices, including Unbroken and The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, have also been consistent hits with many of my readers. Students are continuing to increase their total word count for reading this quarter, and we are now better able to expand our exposure and access to a wider variety of genres.
As a teacher, I have enjoyed the opportunity to provide brief book talks as well as make connections to the novel we are currently studying, The Rock and the River, by Kekla Magoon. A few of the books that were part of my selection are also by this same author.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Chalmers