Last week during my weekly catch up with our student leaders, we discussed ways we can inspire others to read for enjoyment. After talking through a couple of a suggestions we all decided one way we could do this was to offer a weekly lunchtime reading opportunity. The plan is to invite one class a week on a Monday to join the leaders in the library for story time. There is no formal plan as we want this to be organic and evolve naturally.
To set ourselves up for success we introduced the Leaders in the Library idea to the school at our weekly assembly. Room 7, our Year 2 students were the first class to be invited. Even though I'm pretty sure they didn't fully understand, Room 7 were very excited to hear they had been chosen as the first class to take part. To keep the momentum going we will be announcing the name of the class who will be invited to join us each week at assembly.
Fast forward to today... The students of Room 7 were invited to join our Leaders in the Library group for story time. Some students wanted to have a story read to them 1:1, some preferred having a story read to them with their friends in the same small group, and others want to read the book to one of our leaders themselves. My total input to this initiative was to unlock the library and take photos. Our amazing student leaders took control and created the most welcoming and relaxing reading environment. When I walked back into the library after chatting to a colleague I saw one of our Year 8 students helping one of our younger learners to choose a book. She was asking him all sorts of questions to understand what type of story he enjoyed so she could help him choose the 'perfect' book. Dotted all over the library were pairs or small groups of Year 2 students enjoying exploring stories with our Year 8 students. What truly amazed me even more was that apart from the murmur of the reading together session, there was absolutely no need for any behaviour reminders. All the students who were there wanted to be there.
A shared love of books was the connection these students had today despite being a number of years apart in age. I did have to smile at my class who decided after reading the books they would have low key 'learning conversations' with their new reading buddies to check their understanding of the story and talk about the characters. I am excited to see where this goes as the experience was empowering for everyone involved.
Kia ora Mrs Anderson,
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome example of the tuakana teina relationship in action. I've seen how this idea allows for collaboration across year groups and encourages learning conversations that may not have taken place otherwise.
Thanks for sharing your mahi.