Give the Gift of Books with a Birthday Bookshelf!

A book is a gift you can open again and again. —Garrison Keillor

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty.  It should be offered to them as a precious gift. —Kate DiCamillo

Books are very relationship driven. There are opportunities for educators and students to connect over titles, topics, and genres of books. As a leader, you have the power to be the hub of reading in your building.

 

Let’s be real, pencils, erasers, crowns, or stickers can acknowledge a student on their birthday and make them feel special, but not too long after that token is given to them, are they discarded or lost. To build a culture of readers in your building, match your rewards, incentives, and gifts to your goals, vision and philosophy.

 

A birthday bookshelf is an opportunity for students to come into the principal’s office on their birthday, select a new book, and have it signed by the principal. During these interactions, the principal learns about the child’s preferences in reading, is able to have a short conversation to build relationships, and provides a copy of a book to the child No Strings Attached! I have also used this time to take a #birthdayselfie with the students and send a picture to their family or post on our school social media pages.

 

Logistics are simple. Students that are celebrating birthdays (or half birthdays for summer birthdays), are given a birthday bookmark with their name on it from the office. These are printed inexpensively at print shops or can be done on cardstock on your own. The bookmarks serve as a reminder of students to come to the office to claim their birthday book and also as a pass to indicate to office staff why the child is in the office. As the student gets their book, the book mark goes in, and voila! If I am not in the office to sign a book, they can be left with the bookmark for me to sign and I personally deliver them when I am available.

Every child receives a bookmark as their reminder to redeem it for a birthday book!

Funding for these books is made possible by our Parent’s Organization. They use funds from our book fair revenue to purchase books in a variety of levels, genres, topics, and interests for students. This is done twice a year to build inventory on the bookshelf and maintain current and popular titles. A birthday bookshelf could also be done at a classroom level with book order dollars.

 

Giving the gift of books sends a clear message that you value reading and that you are intentional about developing a culture of readers through your gifts and tokens. In what ways could you apply or extend this practice in your school or classroom?

Setting Reading Resolutions: Celebrating Readers!

We are ringing in another New Year! Throughout 2016 I enjoyed reading so many amazing books. As a school, we established a Little Free Library, Free Will Bookshelves, and added over 100 new titles to our library. It is clear when you walk through DGS and see teachers sharing what they’re reading on posters outside their doors, shelves of books in the hallways, and even a bathtub full of books, that literacy is important to our school. Not only is creating a culture of readers a school goal, but it is a deeply rooted value and belief of the staff. More than reading achievement, my goal is and always has been creating learners that LOVE to read. That love of reading with spark lifelong learning and reading enjoyment!

So, as I have done in the past, I set my own reading resolutions to model reading for my staff and students. In the past, I have set goals to read a professional book a month and blog about it, read a particular series or author, or maintain a good reads account. That has all become standard for me, so my reading resolution this year is to promote reading in fun and unique ways with my students and staff. I am starting by having them set their own reading resolutions and I am harnessing the power of social media to do just that.

On our school facebook page, I posted the graphic below (Created in Canva). I am encouraging parents and families to set reading goals with their students! Readers grow on the laps of their parents! As an added incentive, I am gifting a free book and certificate to any student that establishes their own reading resolution! Let’s get out their and ring in the new year with books!