Title: Georgia Book Awards Reading Promotion Program for Sawnee Elementary
1Georgia Book AwardsReading Promotion Programfor
Sawnee Elementary
- Presented by
- Jennifer Canavan
- Diane Gornell
- Aimee Janusz
2Sawnee Elementary School Description
- Located 30 miles north of Atlanta
- 1,046 students, K through 5th grades
- Demographics
- 91 white, 6 Hispanic, 1 Asian, 1 African
American. - 16 eligible for free/reduced lunch
- 24 are students with disabilities (autism,
physical disabilities, etc.) - 4 have limited English proficiency
- Met AYP in 2005-2006 and is non-Title I school
3Sawnee Elementary School Description (contd)
- Schools focus is on preparing students for life
in the 21st century - Learning is the chief goal
- Media centers goal is to help students become
lifelong learners and effective users of ideas
and information they acquire - Media Center operations
- Flexible schedule, allowing students to come as a
class, small group, or individually for research
and book check-out - Staff includes 1 media specialist and 1 media
clerk - Media Specialist teaches lessons to classes, upon
teachers request - Space for several classes to be in the media
center at once - 9 computers for students to do research or locate
books
4Our Goal
- Implement a reading promotion program based
- on the Georgia Childrens Book Awards (GCBA)
- that
- Encourages learning and growth in literary and
literacy development - Boosts reading proficiency and achievement
- Instills a sense of enjoyment in reading that
leads to lifelong reading habits
5Relevant Curricular Objectives
- Reading GPS Standards
- The student demonstrates comprehension and shows
evidence of a warranted and responsible
explanation of a variety of literary and
informational texts. (ELA4R1) - The student consistently reads at least
twenty-five books or book equivalents
(approximately 1,000,000 words) each year. The
materials should include traditional and
contemporary literature (both fiction and
non-fiction) as well as magazines, newspapers,
textbooks, and electronic material. Such reading
should represent a diverse collection of material
from at least three different literary forms and
from at least five different writers. (ELA4R2) - The student understands and acquires new
vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and
writing. (ELA4R3) - The student reads aloud, accurately (in the range
of 95), familiar material in a variety of
genres, in a way that makes meaning clear to
listeners. (ELA4R4)
6Relevant Curricular Objectives(contd)
- Listening/Speaking/Viewing GPS Standards
- The student participates in student-to-teacher,
student-to-student, and group verbal
interactions. (ELA4LSV1) - The student listens to and views various forms of
text and media in order to gather and share
information, persuade others, and express and
understand ideas. (ELA4LSV2) - Information Literacy Standard 5
- The student who is an independent learner is
information literate and appreciates literature
and other creative expressions of information.
7Research Synthesis
- Research of the literature encompassed three
broad areas - Motivation (Authors Casey Chamberlain,
Fitzgibbons, Gardiner, Prince) - Comprehension (Authors Keller, Lloyd, Moen,
Trinkle) - Subpopulations needing remediation (Authors
Graham, Truckey) - Examined Reading components of
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Prosody (prosodic cues of intonation, stress
duration)
8Research Synthesis (contd)
- Utilizing pedagogical strategies of
- Read-alouds model prosody and vocabulary and
provide reading role models (Casey Chamberlain,
Fitzgibbons, Keller, Prince, Trinkle) - Literature circles (with or without assigned
roles such as Discussion Director, Scene Setter,
Vocabulary Master) and book discussions provide
students with opportunities to enjoy, analyze and
interpret text, and participate in authentic
conversations around a shared text and improve
comprehension (Fitzgibbons, Lloyd, Moen) - Formulating written and oral questions, and being
taught this skill, improves comprehension and
motivation (Lloyd, Moen) - Connecting to students prior experiences impacts
comprehension and motivation (Keller, Lloyd)
9Research Synthesis (contd)
- Pedagogical strategies (contd)
- Before, during and after (BDA) strategies aid
comprehension and the development of higher level
thinking skills (Keller, Trinkle) - Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) increases
vocabulary, fluency and decoding skills
(Gardiner, Fitzgibbons) - Readers Theater (supported by skill specific
mini-lessons) provides opportunities for multiple
re-readings of scripted stories in anticipation
of a performance increases fluency, prosody and
motivation (Casey Chamberlain) - Reluctant readers can be motivated by all the
above strategies (Fitzgibbons)
10Georgia Childrens Book Awards
- Established in 1968 by UGA professor, Sheldon
Root - Purpose
- Foster a love of reading in the children of
Georgia - Introduce children to books of literary
excellence - Two categories picture books (K-4) and chapter
books (4-8) - Committee of Georgia teachers and media
specialists select final list of nominees from
submitted recommendations - Childrens votes determine award winners, one in
each category
11Why use the Georgia Childrens Book Awards?
- Students are active participants in the statewide
reading community - Nominated books are current (published within the
past 5 years) - Wealth of resources are readily available at
- http//www.coe.uga.edu/gcba/award/teaching.html
12Our PlanAvailability of Books
- Use funds from book fair, PTA, and community
sponsors to purchase a minimum of 3 sets of
picture book nominees and 2 sets of chapter book
nominees - Purchase paperback, if available, to keep costs
down - May not include some chapter books that are above
the reading level or interest level of our
students - One complete set of nominated titles housed in
the Media Center for student check-out.
Establish a schedule for rotating the rest of the
sets through each classroom. - Partner with the Public Library and bookstores to
display these books so that they are easy to find
13Our PlanPromoting the Program
- Program will run from September to February, with
voting in March - Work with administrators and lead teachers to
promote teacher participation, support,
enthusiasm, and collaboration with media
specialist - Use GCBA websites PowerPoint presentation about
the titles for - Teacher orientation
- Parent orientation, offered in Media Center on
curriculum night - Bulletin board display
- Send letter to parents with list of titles and
program info use school newsletter for periodic
updates. Also post info and helpful links on
school website.
14Our PlanPromoting the Program (contd)
- Hold a kick-off week for students with
theme-related activities, providing information
on program and introducing the books - Showcase students work to encourage
participation - Students giving booktalks during the morning news
- Bulletin board with students artwork depicting
book covers along with booktalks - Students writing book reviews for the school
newsletter or website - Hold voting activities towards the conclusion of
the program, such as students campaigning for
their favorites
15Our PlanTheme Tracking
- Develop a theme in which specific destinations
can be reached as students read more books.
Possible themes are traveling across Georgia, the
solar system, or a visit to the zoo. This theme
will change each school year. - Distribute theme-decorated bookmarks to students,
where titles will be listed with checkboxes so
students can track progress and note favorites - Display chart in each classroom to track which
students have read which titles. Seeing what
others have read will promote casual book
discussions and recommendations between students.
16Our PlanTheme Tracking (contd)
- Create a prominently located display related to
the theme to visually track progress, motivate
students, and encourage class teamwork. - Use theme appropriate icons, color-coded by grade
level, to represent each participating class. - Icons move through the map as specified levels
are reached, based on number of books read by the
class. There will be a different scale used for
picture books vs. chapter books. - Teachers will submit counts (based on classrooms
chart) to the Media Center every 2 weeks to
update school display.
17Our PlanRewards
- Rewards may be given based on existing school
incentive programs (Accelerated Reader, Six Flags
Six Hour Reading Club, Pizza Hut Book It!, etc.) - Students that have read at least 10 picture books
or 3 chapter books win the ability to vote on the
awards - Party will be thrown for the class with most
books read per grade - At the completion of voting, books used in the
rotating classroom collection will be rewarded to
the highest individual student achievers
18Our PlanMedia Specialist Responsibilities
- Put together activity packets for teacher
check-out that includes articles related to the
stories, author, maps, photos, etc. - Create a Word Wall display utilizing words or
phrases from nominated books - Promote comprehension and discussion of books
through student participation in a literature
circle/book club, book recommendation database or
online message board/blog (may be more
appropriate for grades 4-5) - Perform booktalks, read-alouds and related
activities, especially during special class or
a lunch reading program
19Our PlanMedia Specialist Responsibilities
(contd)
- Expand activities to include and encourage
students to choose other materials and genres
found in the Media Center, for example - Other books written by the same author or with
similar theme - Non-fiction material that expands on the subject
matter or setting - Biographical information on nominated authors
(may be online) - Recruit other reading role models (parents,
student peers, administrators, volunteers,
community members, celebrities, etc.) - Prepare a cheat sheet for guest readers so they
can easily prompt the class using before, during,
and after (BDA) strategies
20Our Plan Teacher Responsibilities
- Collaborate with Media Specialist to create
lesson plans and activities - Take advantage of the online resources provided
on the GCBA website (noted earlier) - Find connections between the literature and the
curriculum - Stress links between literature and lives of
students, using questions to activate prior
knowledge - Identify vocabulary words drawn from the books
that are appropriate for students grade level - Perform read-alouds and related activities, or
schedule Media Center time - Encourage Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) and
Readers Theater activities - Ensure that students have read at least the
required amount in order to vote
21Our PlanAccommodating for Sub-Groups
- Students with disabilities or resistant/at-risk
readers - Evaluate most effective activities and
appropriate titles - Purchase or create audio books to help with
reading skills - ESOL students
- Purchase or create books in other languages,
especially Spanish in our school - Purchase or create audio books to help students
with their English and reading skills - Gifted students
- Work with Gifted teachers to sponsor and coach a
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team - Develop fish bowl model for gifted students to
demonstrate a literature circle meeting to
various classes. Gifted teachers and Media
Specialist can help teachers develop literature
circles in their classrooms.
22Our PlanGather and Evaluate Results
- Use teacher, student, and parent surveys to
evaluate program and identify future improvements - Gather statistics on circulation (adding in the
number of GCBA books read from rotating classroom
collection) and compare to previous years - Evaluate any effects on test scores
- Communicate results through reports, press
releases, school newsletter and website - Encourage faculty to nominate books for future
GCBA nominees online at the GCBA website