#  >> K-12 >> Elementary School

Guidelines for an Elementary Reading Club

Despite their boundless energy and insatiable curiosity, kids are still generally restricted to their immediate environments of home, school and friends. Books can introduce young children to faraway worlds and exciting situations, as well as adding to their vocabulary. A book club in the school itself can be a useful way for a teacher to broaden kids' horizons while challenging abstract thought processes and critical thinking. Elementary school reading clubs require normal behavioral discipline, but the teacher need not actively seek the kids' involvement as long as they are happily reading and can provide their own opinions of the books.
  1. Setting

    • A quiet room with comfortable seating is a necessity for an elementary school reading club. An empty classroom is suitable, and if space is at a premium, the teacher can schedule the reading club before school even starts.

    Group Rules

    • Each child needs to know the rules for the book club so everybody is settled and calm and can concentrate on the book. The group leader has to have read the books so the kids can ask questions. For an hour-long reading club session, the group leader can spend 10 minutes on information about a new book, and the children can spend the rest of the time reading or discussing a book they are reading or have finished reading.

    Pressure-Free Reading

    • Whether a child reads a particular book is not the object of a reading club. The club setting aims to allow the children to experience the joy of reading rather than drill in literary interpretations and understanding of metaphors or similes into their heads. Therefore, the club leader should promote each book as fun and interesting while allowing kids to choose the book they find most interesting from more than one option. To reduce pressure, the leader should offer choices of a few books at a time and not present a long, complicated list that could put some kids off the challenge. When it comes to book discussion time, each child should be allowed to state his own opinion in lots of detail.

    Rewards

    • Some kids enjoy building their own library,and want to keep their favorite books to reread. If a school can afford it, or can raise the money from the parents of the children in the reading club, an option for each child to bring home and keep books she likes can help instil a love of reading.

EduJourney © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved