At Book Club yesterday I focused on the Premier's Reading Challenge.
There was a little bit of interest, not as much as I would have liked,
but enough for me to consider registering my school. Then anyone else
who wants to try it can.
I've never done it before, but I'm not sure it's of much use to my school, which has a lot of students who are reading below their official year level. The Reading Challenge is aimed at kids who are reading at the appropriate level. The rules say that a student may read a book a year below their level if the teacher says it's okay, but they still have to read the same number of books from the official list for their level. That's not a lot of use to kids who are in Year 7 or 8 and reading at Grade 4 level, is it?
This is how it goes. You register the school. The kids choose at least ten books from a long, long list of recommended books (I have two books on the list as of last year, Wolfborn and Your Cat Could Be A Spy). They can choose the other five from off the list if they like, but there are so many books, really, no reason why they shouldn't take all the books from the list. They keep track of all their reading on line. I think the ones who have read the most books get placed in a Hall of Fame or some such. There's not really much more than that. At the end of the year, anyone who has finished their commitment gets a certificate. No prizes. I suppose the idea is that they should read because it's Good For Them, not because there's a reward involved. Maybe. But a small reward would be nice.
I told the group that while the only gift they would get from the Challenge for reading fifteen books this year would be a certificate, we could make a ceremony of it and perhaps I might add a book voucher, seeing it's just them. But I might see if anyone else is interested, perhaps as an English activity, or some such, and we can still do the ceremony.
I don't think I'll get much interest, but I can only try!
I've never done it before, but I'm not sure it's of much use to my school, which has a lot of students who are reading below their official year level. The Reading Challenge is aimed at kids who are reading at the appropriate level. The rules say that a student may read a book a year below their level if the teacher says it's okay, but they still have to read the same number of books from the official list for their level. That's not a lot of use to kids who are in Year 7 or 8 and reading at Grade 4 level, is it?
This is how it goes. You register the school. The kids choose at least ten books from a long, long list of recommended books (I have two books on the list as of last year, Wolfborn and Your Cat Could Be A Spy). They can choose the other five from off the list if they like, but there are so many books, really, no reason why they shouldn't take all the books from the list. They keep track of all their reading on line. I think the ones who have read the most books get placed in a Hall of Fame or some such. There's not really much more than that. At the end of the year, anyone who has finished their commitment gets a certificate. No prizes. I suppose the idea is that they should read because it's Good For Them, not because there's a reward involved. Maybe. But a small reward would be nice.
I told the group that while the only gift they would get from the Challenge for reading fifteen books this year would be a certificate, we could make a ceremony of it and perhaps I might add a book voucher, seeing it's just them. But I might see if anyone else is interested, perhaps as an English activity, or some such, and we can still do the ceremony.
I don't think I'll get much interest, but I can only try!
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