[LM_NET] HIT: after school programs

[Melissa Byrd <mbyrd3@GMAIL.COM>]

Here is a hit in response to my request for ideas for an after school
program for grades 6-8.  After speaking with the coordinator further, I
found that the librarian at this middle school isn't even teaching the kids
how to use the library.  So, I plan to start with this and then move on to
comparing books that have been made into movies.  Thanks for all the great
ideas!  I may try others after I get a feel for the program.
Sincerely,
Melissa Byrd
Soon-to-be Elementary Librarian, Jacksboro Elementary
Jacksboro, TN
mbyrd@gmail.com


Melissa,
I'm in an elementary school and we have an after school writer's club.  It's
been very successful.  Students are given a writing assignment and they come
in and read and share, learn new tips, etc.  We've also published school
newspapers and literary magazines.  We even had a newspaper reporter come in
to talk with the group once.



How about a Drama Club?  It would be fun for the students to act out great
literature!
Or Creative Writing Workshop...perhaps, students can even send their writing
to publishers.
Have fun!


What about cooking - of course using cookbooks! Kids this age really benefit
from hands on activities..knitting, quilting, wordworking, etc.


Melissa:
Scrapbooking has become popular and you could tie tihs
in with books relating to genealogy or making your own
book(s).

Also, there is creative writing/critical
thinking...Reading a book then watching the
corresponding movie and comparing and contrasting the
differences.

Hope this helps.


Hi,
I have a suggestion but I have not done this.  I just thought since a
regular book club is not appealing, how about a graphic novel club.  Look at
some graphic novels then have the students collaborate to create a graphic
novel about their school, for instance, in the comic book style.
Another idea (again I have not done this), is to look at children's books,
more specifically fairy tales, to design a puppet show that could be
performed possibly at the elementary level if not for the middle school.



Melissa,

When I read your post, I thought how about a Scrabble club?  My sister used
to run a successful after school Scrabble club in a Houston middle school.

I have used a series of books published by The National Scrabble
Association.  These books have pull out activities that I believe are
designed for preschool up to 12 years old.  You could use these pre-designed
activities or modify them to your own age/interest levels.

I have compiled a list of 2-letter words that could be used...

Anyway, just a thought.



I don't think you should give up on the book club idea right away. it all
depends on how the book club is organized. If it is just a group of kids who
always read the same book and then discuss it, I think there will be limited
interest. But if the "Book Club" gets involved in a variety of activities,
it could be really fun. Some of the activies my book clubs have done
include:

design & implement reading promotions for the school
design a web site or web page
create genre displays
create genre bookmarks (EX: 10 Best Horror Books)
book talk books to each other
get-to-know-each-other games
service projects - our main one was a huge book drive
design a club t-shirt
research favorite authors
field trips to meet authors, visit local book stores, etc.
help select books for the library
create various book displays for the library
put up posters in the school to advertise reading and the library

Every once in a while we would have a group that all wanted to read the same
book and discuss it, so we did that too, but most of the time we had fun
doing projects to promote books, reading, and the library.

Of course you will not be in your own library, so you will want to
coordinate some of these activities with the middle school librarian.


I'm hoping that this program may help spark an idea about your posted need
for a
Junior High Reading Program:

When I was in Junior High I took a pilot for an elective course called
"Young
America Reads."  Basically, the premise was that we would have an
uninterrupted time
to read amongst other people our age who were reading.  The room was
filled with
beanbags, towels, and lawn chairs for us to read in.  We were able to pick
out our
own titles and read what we wanted.  No specific titles or authors were
assigned.
This was a big selling point to us! At the end of every week we would write
a
journal entry or participate in group discussion about what we had been
reading, why
we liked it, or what we didn't like about it.  It was really fun to get
opinions
about books from other people the same age, instead of feeling obligated
to read an
assigned piece.  It was also neat to share the love of reading with other
people the
same age and not be shamed for it.  We all ended up trading books and
favortie
authors quite a bit.  I'm not sure if this is the type of program that you
are
looking for, but it was definitely something that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Hope it
helps spark an idea.  Good luck to you!



Our after school program has homework help - and the library is useful for
that


*Have you checked the professional library? There may be books that you can
use to help with reading that have reproducible handouts and creative
projects. Are the students reading chapter books or short stories? You may
have them do creative projects for each chapter to "bring the story to
life." They can create illustrations to represent the theme, plot, setting,
etc. There are many professional books that have activities for tons of
books that you can use and don't have to think of. I'm not at my school
right now unless I could give you some titles. You may also try "Mailbox
Intermediate" for ideas – they are online too.*

**

*To get the middle school students excited about the "reading" part, they
have to have a purpose to even pick the books up, so if they can get
motivated with the upcoming activities you'll get them hooked. **J** You may
also want to create a few small projects to use as examples.*

* *

*

One of the things we did with our book club last year was to focus on
genres.  Each month the kids would vote on the "genre of the month" then
each was free to choose a book to read that they believed fit the genre.
Then at our monthly meetings, each student brought their book and introduced
it by explaining how it fit into the genre.  That way they could describe
elements of the setting, plot, characters, etc.  It was fun, but also a good
learning tool.
*



-- 
Melissa Byrd

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