With that being said, I HAD to take pictures on the first day of school during the book frenzy in our classroom library. After reading Reading in the Wild and being a part of the book study (see all of those posts HERE), I was ready to implement wild reading in my classroom alongside the procedures.
I gave a couple of book talks and also gave what will now be my annual "I love reading," speech a la Colby Sharp's inspirational speech. I wish I would have had a student film it...but maybe next year. Since I was wearing a dress and heels...I refrained from jumping on tables. But I really really really wanted to. My kids were cracking up and very much into it. I had so much more fun presenting my true passion for reading this way instead of just sort of talking about it like I did in years prior. The impact was HUGE.
Once I laid the groundwork and my students gained an understanding into just how much reading was going to become part of their 5th grade life...it was time to let them loose. Oh, and because I gave a couple book talks from the nonfiction section of my library, so many of my kids went in that direction!!! If I knew it was going to be that easy to get kids on that side of our library, I would have done it a long time ago. So many new things were learned from this year's book frenzy, I love it!!!
Notice all the kids on the left side? That's the nonfiction section!
Many of them selected books a lot faster than I've ever seen before. This makes me nervous though as they may have just grabbed the first book they saw. But only a handful of them have abandoned them since that first day. The vibe in the room was also completely more positive and electric versus other years. I even felt different watching my new group discovering how much fun they were going to have. Wild readers are in my room already!...now it's a matter of showing them they can do it without me.
It also looks like I have quite a few World War II fans...so I am going to try to get my hands on as many fiction and nonfiction books as possible to provide for them. I can't wait to share my interest in WWII with them as well!
This fellow has had this Pearl Harbor book since the first day and is still deep into it 8 days later.
This is what I saw after only telling them once to sit down and start enjoying their first book.
All in all, this year's book frenzy was a success. My students clearly have a love for reading already, at least most of them. So, we can focus more on getting books they love in their hands and teaching them how to become wilder readers throughout the school year and beyond.
