March (Reading) Madness

I was a little shocked during the morning announcements that first week at my new student teaching placement.  I thought I misheard the librarian when she was talking about the brackets, but it turned out to be exactly what she had said.  Now to be clear, it wasn't the college basketball brackets that are so ubiquitous this time of year, but a book bracket.  Instead of favorite teams, the students throughout the school were voting on their favorite books! 

Grades pre-K through 6th were grouped so students could select books they had probably read (the initial list was from books that were popular among students in each grade range).

It was fun to listen to the students' reactions to the daily winners and the growing excitement when their top pics ended up winning, eventually facing each other in the final round!

The students occasionally heard book titles unfamiliar to them.  Usually other students would reply to a question like, "What's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane?" by saying, "Oh, Mrs. so-and-so read it to us last year," or, "I just read that one!" making each title a little more enticing.

I think this kind of school-wide activity is great for getting students to think of reading in a fun and exciting way - their favorite book might win!  But it also just puts reading right out there and makes having a favorite book normal, common, expected... even advantageous!  Though arguing for your favorite book was not allowed in the classroom, I think it still brought books into the spotlight in a good way!

I know I still have a lot of reading to go to become better acquainted with the huge assortment of literature students are reading. I guess I have some brackets full of suggestions now!