Georgia Book Awards Reading Promotion Program for Sawnee Elementary

1. Georgia Book AwardsReading Promotion Programfor Sawnee Elementary Presented by: Jennifer Canavan Diane Gornell Aimee Janusz

2. Sawnee Elementary School Description • Located 30 miles north of Atlanta • 1,046 students, K through 5th grades • Demographics: • 91% white, 6% Hispanic, 1% Asian, 1% African American. • 16% eligible for free/reduced lunch • 24% are students with disabilities (autism, physical disabilities, etc.) • 4% have limited English proficiency • Met AYP in 2005-2006 and is non-Title I school

3. Sawnee Elementary School Description (cont’d) • School’s focus is on preparing students for life in the 21st century • Learning is the chief goal • Media center’s goal is to help students become lifelong learners and effective users of ideas and information they acquire • Media Center operations: • Flexible schedule, allowing students to come as a class, small group, or individually for research and book check-out • Staff includes 1 media specialist and 1 media clerk • Media Specialist teaches lessons to classes, upon teacher’s request • Space for several classes to be in the media center at once • 9 computers for students to do research or locate books

4. Our Goal Implement a reading promotion program based on the Georgia Children’s Book Awards (GCBA) that: • Encourages learning and growth in literary and literacy development • Boosts reading proficiency and achievement • Instills a sense of enjoyment in reading that leads to lifelong reading habits

5. Relevant Curricular Objectives • Reading GPS Standards • The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a warranted and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational texts. (ELA4R1) • The student consistently reads at least twenty-five books or book equivalents (approximately 1,000,000 words) each year. The materials should include traditional and contemporary literature (both fiction and non-fiction) as well as magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and electronic material. Such reading should represent a diverse collection of material from at least three different literary forms and from at least five different writers. (ELA4R2) • The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing. (ELA4R3) • The student reads aloud, accurately (in the range of 95%), familiar material in a variety of genres, in a way that makes meaning clear to listeners. (ELA4R4)

6. Relevant Curricular Objectives(cont’d) • Listening/Speaking/Viewing GPS Standards • The student participates in student-to-teacher, student-to-student, and group verbal interactions. (ELA4LSV1) • The student listens to and views various forms of text and media in order to gather and share information, persuade others, and express and understand ideas. (ELA4LSV2) • Information Literacy Standard #5 • The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.

7. Research Synthesis • Research of the literature encompassed three broad areas: • Motivation (Authors: Casey & Chamberlain, Fitzgibbons, Gardiner, Prince) • Comprehension (Authors: Keller, Lloyd, Moen, Trinkle) • Subpopulations needing remediation (Authors: Graham, Truckey) • Examined Reading components of: • Fluency • Vocabulary • Prosody (prosodic cues of intonation, stress & duration)

8. Research Synthesis (cont’d) • Utilizing pedagogical strategies of: • Read-alouds model prosody and vocabulary and provide reading role models (Casey & Chamberlain, Fitzgibbons, Keller, Prince, Trinkle) • Literature circles (with or without assigned roles such as Discussion Director, Scene Setter, Vocabulary Master) and book discussions provide students with opportunities to enjoy, analyze and interpret text, and participate in authentic conversations around a shared text and improve comprehension (Fitzgibbons, Lloyd, Moen) • Formulating written and oral questions, and being taught this skill, improves comprehension and motivation (Lloyd, Moen) • Connecting to students’ prior experiences impacts comprehension and motivation (Keller, Lloyd)

9. Research Synthesis (cont’d) • Pedagogical strategies (cont’d): • Before, during and after (BDA) strategies aid comprehension and the development of higher level thinking skills (Keller, Trinkle) • Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) increases vocabulary, fluency and decoding skills (Gardiner, Fitzgibbons) • Readers’ Theater (supported by skill specific mini-lessons) provides opportunities for multiple re-readings of scripted stories in anticipation of a performance increases fluency, prosody and motivation (Casey & Chamberlain) • Reluctant readers can be motivated by all the above strategies (Fitzgibbons)

10. Georgia Children’s Book Awards • Established in 1968 by UGA professor, Sheldon Root • Purpose • Foster a love of reading in the children of Georgia • Introduce children to books of literary excellence • Two categories: picture books (K-4) and chapter books (4-8) • Committee of Georgia teachers and media specialists select final list of nominees from submitted recommendations • Children’s votes determine award winners, one in each category

11. Why use the Georgia Children’s Book Awards? • Students are active participants in the statewide reading community • Nominated books are current (published within the past 5 years) • Wealth of resources are readily available at: http://www.coe.uga.edu/gcba/award/teaching.html

12. Our Plan:Availability of Books • Use funds from book fair, PTA, and community sponsors to purchase a minimum of 3 sets of picture book nominees and 2 sets of chapter book nominees • Purchase paperback, if available, to keep costs down • May not include some chapter books that are above the reading level or interest level of our students • One complete set of nominated titles housed in the Media Center for student check-out. Establish a schedule for rotating the rest of the sets through each classroom. • Partner with the Public Library and bookstores to display these books so that they are easy to find

13. Our Plan:Promoting the Program • Program will run from September to February, with voting in March • Work with administrators and lead teachers to promote teacher participation, support, enthusiasm, and collaboration with media specialist • Use GCBA website’s PowerPoint presentation about the titles for: • Teacher orientation • Parent orientation, offered in Media Center on curriculum night • Bulletin board display • Send letter to parents with list of titles and program info; use school newsletter for periodic updates. Also post info and helpful links on school website.

14. Our Plan:Promoting the Program (cont’d) • Hold a kick-off week for students with theme-related activities, providing information on program and introducing the books • Showcase students’ work to encourage participation • Students giving booktalks during the morning news • Bulletin board with student’s artwork depicting book covers along with booktalks • Students writing book reviews for the school newsletter or website • Hold voting activities towards the conclusion of the program, such as students campaigning for their favorites

15. Our Plan:Theme & Tracking • Develop a theme in which specific destinations can be reached as students read more books. Possible themes are traveling across Georgia, the solar system, or a visit to the zoo. This theme will change each school year. • Distribute theme-decorated bookmarks to students, where titles will be listed with checkboxes so students can track progress and note favorites • Display chart in each classroom to track which students have read which titles. Seeing what others have read will promote casual book discussions and recommendations between students.

16. Our Plan:Theme & Tracking (cont’d) • Create a prominently located display related to the theme to visually track progress, motivate students, and encourage class teamwork. • Use theme appropriate icons, color-coded by grade level, to represent each participating class. • Icons move through the map as specified levels are reached, based on number of books read by the class. There will be a different scale used for picture books vs. chapter books. • Teachers will submit counts (based on classroom’s chart) to the Media Center every 2 weeks to update school display.

17. Our Plan:Rewards • Rewards may be given based on existing school incentive programs (Accelerated Reader, Six Flags Six Hour Reading Club, Pizza Hut Book It!, etc.) • Students that have read at least 10 picture books or 3 chapter books win the ability to vote on the awards • Party will be thrown for the class with most books read per grade • At the completion of voting, books used in the rotating classroom collection will be rewarded to the highest individual student achievers

18. Our Plan:Media Specialist Responsibilities • Put together activity packets for teacher check-out that includes articles related to the stories, author, maps, photos, etc. • Create a Word Wall display utilizing words or phrases from nominated books • Promote comprehension and discussion of books through student participation in a literature circle/book club, book recommendation database or online message board/blog (may be more appropriate for grades 4-5) • Perform booktalks, read-alouds and related activities, especially during “special” class or a lunch reading program

19. Our Plan:Media Specialist Responsibilities (cont’d) • Expand activities to include and encourage students to choose other materials and genres found in the Media Center, for example: • Other books written by the same author or with similar theme • Non-fiction material that expands on the subject matter or setting • Biographical information on nominated authors (may be online) • Recruit other reading role models (parents, student peers, administrators, volunteers, community members, celebrities, etc.) • Prepare a cheat sheet for guest readers so they can easily prompt the class using before, during, and after (BDA) strategies

20. Our Plan: Teacher Responsibilities • Collaborate with Media Specialist to create lesson plans and activities • Take advantage of the online resources provided on the GCBA website (noted earlier) • Find connections between the literature and the curriculum • Stress links between literature and lives of students, using questions to activate prior knowledge • Identify vocabulary words drawn from the books that are appropriate for student’s grade level • Perform read-alouds and related activities, or schedule Media Center time • Encourage Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) and Reader’s Theater activities • Ensure that students have read at least the required amount in order to vote

21. Our Plan:Accommodating for Sub-Groups • Students with disabilities or resistant/at-risk readers: • Evaluate most effective activities and appropriate titles • Purchase or create audio books to help with reading skills • ESOL students: • Purchase or create books in other languages, especially Spanish in our school • Purchase or create audio books to help students with their English and reading skills • Gifted students: • Work with Gifted teachers to sponsor and coach a Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team • Develop fish bowl model for gifted students to demonstrate a literature circle meeting to various classes. Gifted teachers and Media Specialist can help teachers develop literature circles in their classrooms.

22. Our Plan:Gather and Evaluate Results • Use teacher, student, and parent surveys to evaluate program and identify future improvements • Gather statistics on circulation (adding in the number of GCBA books read from rotating classroom collection) and compare to previous years • Evaluate any effects on test scores • Communicate results through reports, press releases, school newsletter and website • Encourage faculty to nominate books for future GCBA nominees online at the GCBA website