Reading Month 2011 Recap!

It was a very busy month of March in my middle school. We celebrated March is Reading Month with an underwater theme. This theme was the top choice in a school-wide theme creation and voting process. Before March arrived, we had a poster contest so that we could begin to spread the word about Reading Month.

The Artists

Second Place Poster

Third Place Poster

First Place Poster

Fourth Place Poster

During Reading Month, we like to come up with activities that will help brighten up the building while stressing the fun and importance of reading. This year we had a Door Decorating Contest. Students in each homeroom decorated their homeroom door. The doors were judged on adherence to theme, creativity, and originality.

Most Creative-a 5th grade Homeroom

First Place-the 7th Grade Entry

Second Place-the Art teacher's door, decorated by 8th graders

Third Place-a 6th Grade Homeroom

The art teacher is always great about having art students create displays in the halls for Reading Month.

Nonfiction reading is highlighted during Reading Month with Information Scavenger Hunts. This year we had one on the topic of water animals and one on the topic of rivers of the world. Informational articles are hung throughout the building and students have to read to find answers to questions. Winners are drawn from all correct entries and the students received books of their choice.

Looking for all this information is making her crazy!

Some 6th grade boys take a break to pose.

Each Monday morning during the month, a passage is read to the entire building over the intercom system. Students have to guess the genre of the passage. They guess by filling out an entry slip which they must have turned in by the end of their lunch time that same day. Correct entries are put into a drawing. Winners get to select a book that they donate to a teacher and a small prize for themselves. These prizes consist of pencils, bookmarks, small notebooks, and such. The Parent Group sponsors this activity and gives us $500 to spend on the books that help to grow classroom libraries.

Students look over their choices to pick a book to donate to a teacher.

"Found one!"

Of course, our goal during Reading Month is to get kids to read. This year we created, with the painting skills of one of our parapros, an underwater mural on the windows in the cafeteria. We ordered some fish die-cuts from the REMC and cut fish in four colors, one color per grade level 5-8. Teachers had students fill out a fish after they finished a book, adding their name and the title of the book. The fish were hung as part of the mural and it was fun to watch our school of readers grow!

The month was capped off with a "water" themed Mock Rock, which was a complete and total blast! Click here to see the videos of Mock Rock, which include some killer teacher dance moves to Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice!!

Hope you enjoyed the recap of Reading Month. We are always looking for new ideas to incorporate and to build a love of reading in kids. I encourage you to leave a comment and let us know what you do to celebrate Reading Month in your school!