HIT: Young Readers Programs, Part 1

[Nancy Badertscher <badertn@ROCKBRIDGE.NET>]

Subject: HIT: Young Readers Programs, Part 2
Hello LM_NETTERS,

        Here is Part 1 of my Hit for my questions regarding Young Readers
Programs.  Thanks to Ginger - and Rita, Blair, Nina, Lyn, Frances, Jackie,
my sister Sue, and especially to JJ, who first gave me information about
this program.  I heard from Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, California
and Tennessee.  Below are the first 4 questions I asked and the responses
to each.  The second part will include the other questions, responses and
my plans.

1. How many copies of the titles do you buy (and how many students do you
have in school)?

3-4 copies, pref. paperback
~~~
Our media center serves 630 students in grades 5-12, so we run all three of
the S.C. programs.  I buy 1 hardcover of each title (3 lists with 20 books
each equals 60 titles), then buy 3-6 paperbacks of most titles. Mid-year,
I'll buy a second hardcover or additional paperbacks of very popular titles.
~~~
When purchasing, I try to get one hard bound copy and then 3-4 paperback
copies.  During the current school year I circulate these books for only 5
days.
~~~
In California, there are five Picture books, and three Upper Elementary,
Middle/Junior High, and High School books nominated.  [I buy] 4 picture
books, 8 upper elementary, and 5 Middle school (picture books are overnight
check-out only).
~~~
enrollment: ~ 270 (K-5)  I purchase 2 hardback copies of each book in the
Elementary and Primary categories.  Also, I purchase paperback copies (as
available) in the Elementary Category, so that a paperback copy set can be
place in each 4th and 5th grade classroom.
~~~
We had about 600 students and I ordered 10 copies of each title.        I also
would allow a student to have only 1 YR book checked out at a time, and for
the first 2-3 months, the books all remained checked out.


2. Do the teachers require/encourage participation?

No one requires it.  Some teachers have me read the picture books to their
classes and we vote as a class.  Some teachers encourage participation by
offering extra credit.
~~~
No one requires Book Award participation, but about half of teachers
promote it.
~~~
Some teachers do and some do not.  Each year there is at least one teacher
who is a wonderful promoter of the program.  These teachers add to the joy of
promoting good reading habits!
~~~
I had two 6th grade English teachers who required their students to
complete the program.  One had a gifted class and required they  read 6,
rather than the minimum 4 books, to be given credit for completing the
program.  Most of the rest of the teachers  encouraged, but did not require
their students to participate.


3. How do you promote the program?

 In the fall I do brief book talks, and the kids read them if they want to.
 To be honest, we've only voted once in 3 years.  I plan to change that...
at Chancellor Middle, one of the librarians did book talks over the moring
announcements and did VAYR with a few LA classes...
~~~
 I also buy Electronic Bookshelf quizzes for all titles; many of our
teachers promote EBS. I provide a poster about the current titles for every
classroom, shelve current titles face out in display area, booktalk titles,
provide every student with a bookmark listing titles, etc.  I create the
posters myself, on standard size paper with desktop publishing software,
then send them to state audiovisual production facility to run through
their postermaker and laminater.  One color of ink on my choice of color
paper, but cost is about $1.75 per poster.  I've
heard some districts have postermakers -- we're just too small.  New idea
-- create a PowerPoint slide show about titles and set to run in continuous
loop on a prominent computer a couple of days each month.
~~~
If your school decides to participate in the program you receive (from the
state [FL] DOE-media services-actually it's only one person in that
office...) a booklet of activities, questions to use on quizzes or
discussion.  Also, several AR companies provide a test disk specifically on
these titles each year.  Our county holds a "Battle of the Books" using the
SSYRA books.  I work closely with the 6th grade reading teacher in
encouraging her students to read all of the books.
Booktalks, purchase the Accelerated Reader disc for the VAYR books, read
aloud Primary books to K & 1 classes, promote w/ broadcasts on the
student-produced inschool news program, hold an inschool contest for upper
grades to recognize individuals and classes who read 4 or more of the books
in the Elementary category.  I try to coordinate reading and presenting the
VAYR books each year so that they can be coordinated with classroom
curriculum.  Also, I try to develop a resource-based, integrated unit each
year utilizing one of the books from the Elementary category.  Units
include a teacher's reading guide, hands-on activities across content areas
and bibliographies of related books,
materials, and web sites.  I also purchase some of the middle school books
since we have a number of students who read above 5th grade level.  They do
not vote in this category but they enjoy reading the books and taking the
AR tests.  For example, there is still a run each year on the book The Eye,
The Ear And The Arm (of course it was also a Newbery honor book if I recall
correctly).
~~~
I go to every English class and explain the program and book talk each book.
~~~
Every Monday over the public address system, I would do a book talk.  All
students were also give a handout telling about the program and letting
them know about a big party that would be held in the spring for all who
competed the program.  My
media tech students also have done posters and even videotaped some
commercials for the books.

4. What do you do as an "ending event"?

Students who read at least three chapter books get an all-you-can-eat ice
cream and pizza party.
~~~
Ending events vary, but most successful was the week we had students doing
campaign speeches and posters for a week before "Book Voting Day".  We
always do certificates of participation and ice cream or some other treat
on Book Voting Day.
~~~
In the lower grades we hold a big election (to coordinate w/ SOL
instruction of "democracy" SOL).  Since in the grades K-1 the books are
read aloud to most of the students, almost all of the students qualify to
vote.  The technology teacher also has the younger students create a graph
for each classes voting results.  In the upper grades, students who
qualify, vote and then a culminating event is held for the contest.
Students receive special certificates and the winning class receives an ice
cream party.
~~~
This year I had 85 students who completed the YR program.  I had a big
party with lots of refreshments donated by parents,  surprise gifts, a
juggler to perform, and lots of free books that  I earned from my Troll
Book Fair in the fall.  (I had
almost 600 books to give away.)

Part 2 of the Hit follows.

Nancy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy Badertscher
Library Media Specialist/KidsConnect Volunteer
Maury River Middle School
Lexington, VA  24450
540/463-3129

home email - badertn@rockbridge.net, mamanan25@yahoo.com
school email - nhbader@rcs.rang.k12.va.us
family webpage - http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/2223/family.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Hello LM_NETTERS,

        Here is Part 2 of my Hit for my questions regarding Young Readers Programs.

5. What do you do with all the copies of the titles at the end of each
year's program?

put them in the fiction section for regular circulation.
~~~
We keep all copies of the titles; since we have EBS quizzes they stay in use.
~~~
After the school year I change them to regular circulation (10 days) and
put them on the regular fiction shelf.
~~~
The hardbacks remain in circulation and the paperbacks are processed further
and placed in circulation.  I feel these are good selections and remain
valuable for recreational reading.  They remain popular as well as
Accelerated Reader books.
~~~
I keep two in circulation.  The rest I discard and gave them to the two
teachers who required their students to do the program.  They appreciate
having these books in their classroom  collection.

6. What other suggestions/comments do you have about the program?

In Tennessee it is called the Volunteer State Book Awards and works well with
elementary and with 6th grade students.  However, when my school had all
the sixth graders while the other MS was being rennovated for 3 years, the
English
teachers wanted me to supply each of them with a complete set of Volunteer SBA
nominees for their classrooms (not checked out from the library) and I said
no because it seemed like a misappropriation of library funds to me.  The
local book store said each set would cost about $75.  The other librarian
had been doing this.  As it turned out the principal made every 6th grade
teacher teach one English class that first year and there were 13 teachers!
~~~
As a librarian with Prince William Public Library System ( VA), I have
noticed that many teachers use the titles on the Virginia Young Readers
lists as part of their summer reading assignments.  We try to supply a
ratio of 1 copy to every 5 students on a waiting list for these books,
however during the summer we may have more than 1,000 students who have
been assigned one of these Virginia Young Reader titles and some will have
to get their copies from the bookstores in order complete their assignment
by September.
~~~
     One advantage of running all three book award levels is offering more
choices.  My avid readers in 6th, 8th, and 9th grade often vote on two
lists while my very weak readers sometimes opt for the easier lists.  We
have every student write his/her grade on voting forms, so we don't send
the wrong votes to the state association.  We do use those "wrong grade"
votes for our school results. One caution about purchasing the high school
list for your middle school -- are the books thematically appropriate for
the age?  I've read _Peeling the Onion_ (it's on our YA list); it's
appropriate for 7th and 8th grade, but not for younger students. You'll
probably want fewer copies of the high school list.
~~~
I wish there was a statewide culminating event in which the winning books
were recognized or at least the announcement of the titles of the winning
books were posted on a sponsoring web site.
~~~
Every year since I began the program it has grown.  News about the party
and all the free gifts drifts down from older to younger children. Parents
like it, too, and some have insisted that the program be included in a
couple of the elementary school that feed into our middle school.  The best
thing about the Young Readers program is that it encourages students to
read books outside their usual chosen genre.  Because these books are
selected by the Virginia State Reading Association, I am not at all
surprised to see that a large percentage of the books that are checked out
are previous YR books.  Students find it interesting  [and I] hear, "That
was a Young  Readers book 3 years ago."


7. What other reading incentive programs do you have and do you consider
them to be successful?

I haven't done it, but I have heard some schools like the Accelerated
Reader program.
~~~
We have Accelerated Reader and I have seen an incredible increase in the
number of students who read "voluntarily" as a result of the program's use.
~~~
Note:  others mentioned AR or EBS elsewhere in their answers.
~~~~~~

        As a result of these responses, I have decided to try this program at my
middle (approx. 450 students, grade 6-8) school this year.  Yesterday I
discussed the program with my principal and got his OK to go with it.  I am
leaning toward purchasing 1-2 hardback and 2-3 paperback copies (where
available) of each title on the mid school list, and one each on the high
school list to start with.  Depending on the interest, I may purchase more
during the year.  I plan to mail notes or email messages to each of the
faculty members next week to introduce myself, since I am new to the
school, letting them know about this program and including a briefly
annotated list of the titles, and also asking if they have any title
requests that I could purchase this summer.
        By the time school starts I will have finished reading the other five of
the 10 mid school titles and hopefully at least some of the h.s. titles.  I
also hope to have some bookmarks made with the titles listed, and plan to
do a display around the titles, maybe to include books from past years that
I plan to add to our collection also.  I am assuming that I will be doing
some orientation for at least the 6th grade, so will definitely talk them
up during that time.  The PowerPoint idea mentioned above sounds like a
great idea, and I will probably also do a webpage on the titles.  Booktalks
on the morning announcements might be a possibility.  I've never done a
booktalk, but am willing to try, though probably will start with individual
classes rather than the whole school!  Also might increase interest in the
books to run little contests of having kids answer trivia questions about
the books once they start being read.  I recently met the Children/YA
librarian at our local public library, and hope to co-ordinate this program
with her so that kids know they can get the books there as well.
        My school does not use AR, but some of the feeder elementary schools do in
varying ways.  It will be interesting to see if I can encourage teachers to
encourage their students to participate in this relatively unstructured
program.  I will certainly plan to do all the record-keeping myself -- I
know from the high school I just left that any collaboration goes better if
you offer to do most/all of the preparation and paperwork - 8;)).
        Again, thanks so much for the input from all of you.  I'll keep the list
posted on how this program proceeds.

Nancy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy Badertscher
Library Media Specialist/KidsConnect Volunteer
Maury River Middle School
Lexington, VA  24450
540/463-3129

home email - badertn@rockbridge.net, mamanan25@yahoo.com
school email - nhbader@rcs.rang.k12.va.us
family webpage - http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/2223/family.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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