On Wednesday, we had our very first Book Tasting (thanks to Joanne Miller for the great resource!)

Chef Thompson welcomed everyone in based on their reservation and showed them to their table. Students got to taste 5 different genres or types of books: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction/Novels, Fantasy, and Graphic Novels. As any good critic would do, they wrote down their first impressions and initial thoughts after their first bites. They then gave each book a rating on a scale from 1-10. Finally, any books worth revisiting were written down on a bookmark so they could remember their top picks.

Students realized that some books that they may not have been attracted to at first were in fact appealing. Others discovered genres they never knew they were interested in. I get asked so often for book suggestions, and so I also introduced the students to two different resources. This is a book list with some suggestions for age-appropriate books, organized by category.

Another option, with many more titles, is to use the Accelerated Reading Bookfinder site.  Using the advanced search option, you can select the interest level (I recommend Middle Grades for grade 5), the ZPD range as recommended by Star Reading (which I will email privately to each family) and any specific genre or topic, fiction or non-fiction. Here’s a quick ‘how to’ video walking you through the process.

It is recommended that students read for AT LEAST 30 minutes each day, and they should keep track of the books they read for our OJCS Reading Challenge. They can always add their book reviews to our Flipgrid or to the Library Website.

Wishing you all a restful, rejuvenating break and a Happy New Year. See you in 2019!