Teacher friends
A couple of weeks ago one of my students came back from the school library with a board book.
The next day he came back from the library with a Jack Sparrow book with a lexile level of 1070.
I have told you all before how my school librarian, Mrs. Parker, is the best librarian in the history of librarians.
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
- 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:
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.
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.
Hi Jennifer!
This post does not contain any recipes at all!
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!
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!