Book Pass: The Power of Choice Activity

dear readers, it's been a while since i've blogged! the holidays get closer and we get so busy! and so much is going on in IN the Media Center i don't always have time to ABOUT it... but yeah, that's the same lame excuse all bloggers have, isn't it?
ANYWAY....i wanted to share pics and info about an exciting reading activity that i heard about at the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) conference i attended last month... i came back from the conference energized and just SO excited to try new things! and here's one of them! Book Pass: The Power of Choice! ....it was a special activity to promote pleasure reading in the Media Center. basically, i set up the Media Center as if it was an in-house Book Fair...taking a loads and loads of some of my newest, coolest, and most popular books and i loaded them on tables....purposefully messy even HAPHAZARDLY!

i
wanted to make them look jumbled so the kids would have to dig through them!
the object of the activity was for kids to "shop" for books they haven't read yet and compile a list of books to read for the rest of the school year. this list will be kept on file for them alphabetized in a notebook in the Media Center and when they come next to get a book and say "i don't know what to read!" we'll refer them to their list! they were instructed to judge a book by it's cover...read the blurb and discern the genre. then internally rate the book 1-10 and if it rated a 6+ to put it on their list with a short comment. the whole activity went very well!
and kids were very excited to just have an opportunity to look for books that appealed to THEM for their pleasure reading.


fiction books, non-fiction books, graphic novels, comic books, drawing books, and more....students could go from table to table....talk to their friends, show friends books they had read and really liked and even write post-it reviews on the backs of the books for other students and classes! so far, it's gone like gang busters...and some of the featured books i just can't keep in! kids are checking off books they've read and coming back for more...and really...isn't that what we're all about? giving kids books to read and helping them become LIFELONG readers!

Teachers & Media Specialists: For more information about the Book Pass: The Power of Choice! activity visit our Wiki for the annotated lesson plan, activity sheet, a reading list, PowerPoint and more!