Elem: Olympic Reading Goals idea --

[Estelle Oyler <oyler@YOURLINK.NET>]

Just thought I would ask you very creative folks for input into a
"brainstorm" I had today.  We were trying to come up with an idea for a
schoolwide reading goals theme.  I saw the book ELYMPICS by X.J. Kennedy on
our shelves this morning and thought about making a simulated plane trip to
the Olympics, complete with snacks and drinks and maybe a travelog film
about Australia to kick off.  Each student would have some sort of reading
"passport" which teachers could stamp when they accomplished an
age-appropriate goal.  We would run the promo from mid September till mid
April.  Students who accomplished determined numbers of reading goals could
get a gold, silver or bronze medal at our awards day ceremony at the end of
the year.

I was trying to come up with Olympic related goals for K-6 students -- so if
you have any ideas, I would love to have your input.  Some of the things I
thought of:

Sprint:    Read a book in a day and take an AR test on that book
Triathalon:  Read 3 books by the same author
Pentathalon:  Read 5 different Fiction genre books (ex. sci-fi, historical
fiction, fantasy, etc.)
Volleyball:  Paired reading with a buddy, alternating pages
1000m relay:  Read a book from each of the 10 non-fiction sections (0-99,
100-199, etc.)
Mountain Biking:  Increase your R/L on the STAR test by at least 1 grade
level by the end of the year.

Now to try to think of a catching name for the promo, as well as some more
ideas for reading goals to go with the Olympic events -- and then to get the
medal standards and award levels ironed out.  Obviously some goals carry
more weight.  Now I need a course in Olympic scoring techniques!  :-)

At our school, we try to focus on individual reading goals and downplay
students competing against each other for "points", so I'm hoping the
Olympic theme will foster personal achievement.  We could also think about
class goals.

Please let me know if you have any more ideas.  I will post a HIT of the
results.

Thanks in advance for your ideas,

Estelle Oyler, LMS
Longleaf Elem
Melbourne, FL
oyler@yourlink.net

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