How to Throw a Book Tasting For 2nd Graders

Teacher friends

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

A couple of weeks ago one of my students came back from the school library with a board book.

Yes, a board book. And don’t get me wrong here. I want to empower my readers and let them choose what they want to read. But I also want my readers to challenge themselves and tackle grade level stuff. After all, there is a standard that requires us to address text complexity, right?

This is one of my most capable and skillful readers.

The next day he came back from the library with a Jack Sparrow book with a lexile level of 1070.

Yes, that is about a 7th grade level. I mean thank you for trying to challenge yourself, but 7th grade?

Speak of desperate.

I have told you all before how my school librarian, Mrs. Parker, is the best librarian in the history of librarians.

And I mean that.

So I went up to her and told her how most of my students were not making good book choices.
And then she asked:
-Well have you shown them what series are available?
Umm no.
– Have you had a series of “just right books” lessons with them?
Umm yes.

We both came up with the idea of a book tasting event based on something that we saw on Pinterest.
We set a date and divided on things to do.
This is what she did:

Decide on a genre
Look for 6 different series or authors who have several books out
The series picked needed to be within the 300 and 500 Lexile levels
She also made the tasting plates

This is what I did:

Make props like tasting cards, a menu, and a selection sheet for students
Make label for trail mix
Get donations from parents in terms of snacks, tablecloths, and disposables.
Set up a parent volunteer who could come and help us on the day of the tasting.

These are some pictures:

Click HERE to download this book tasting menu. And BTW I made this menu using Canva.

Mrs. Parker decided that for our first tasting, the flavor of the month should be realistic fiction. So we made realistic fiction trail mix!

My sweet DBo (My former and talented assistant made the labels) you can download them by clicking HERE!

Each student got a book sample slip. After Mrs. Parker introduced each series, the students walked around the library and took a taste. After the taste, they would circle YES or NO to show if they liked it or not. Each student was also required to make a final choice. To get this sample slip, please click HERE!

All in all the kids had an absolute blast! The activity was different, enlightening, funny. Mrs. Parker has a gift for engaging audiences.

Mrs. Parker created the tasting plates. She wrote a blurb… we are are becoming true expert blurbologists.

In order to get a copy of the series-snack labels, please click HERE!!

Troubleshooting

Of course not everything was rainbows and fairies.
At the end of the day, we got back together and touched base on a couple of things before we throw our second book tasting event around Halloween time.
These are the changes that we will make:

No food on the tables. We noticed that some students were more focused on getting snacks than anything else. We will still keep the trail mix in a bag, and the students will get to take it home to families to discuss the contents and what they have learned.
We will both dress up for the second book tasting.
I have also made sure that my classroom library is a happy an inviting place for everyone. I use these labels that you can fin in my TPT store.

You can get them by clicking HERE!

I still have a couple of students who are not making good choices. And I am still reflecting on how to help them get hooked on a book they love. Hooking kids on reading takes time, and that is OK. Teaching our students to become lifelong readers is a slow process that we need to follow very carefully… after all, we do not want to interfere with our students’ identities.

I would love to hear your suggestions and the things that you do in your classrooms to reach every reader.

Thank you for reading teacher friends, until next time!

Comments

Jennifer says

September 9, 2018 at 7:03 pm

I can’t find the actual recipes to go with the series. Can you send them to me, please? Or point them out on TPT.

- Laura says
  
  September 17, 2018 at 9:02 pm
  
  Hi Jennifer!
  This post does not contain any recipes at all!
  
Renea says

December 31, 2018 at 9:31 pm

Hi Laura! This is amazing! I certainly plan on having a book tasting before the end of the year. This will hopefully help my kiddos choose a great series to take them through the summer months. Hosting this later in the year will also allow time to gather all needed material. Thanks so very much!

- Laura says
  
  January 1, 2019 at 10:21 pm
  
  Hi renea!
  So glad to hear! Book tastings have certainly helped me motivate my students when it comes to choosing their own reading material. It has also helped me teach genre so much better than ever before!