Book Club at Beckley Elementary

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

As adults, we could all name our favorite book series, the one we couldn't stop reading, which ultimately developed us into true readers. We have come to the realization that our students have not experienced this desire for reading.

Our population is 78% Hispanic and over 80% of our students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program.

They do not have the funds for libraries in their own homes so they rely on us to provide this opportunity for them. They struggle with having an interest in the books they randomly pick off a book shelf here and there. We know it just takes that one series to catch their attention and we can hook them. First, we knew we needed to increase the stamina and rigor of students’ reading. We compared this to watching a sport on T.V. and never playing it, but then expecting to be great at t. So, we have taught the students to sit and read a book for an extended period of time. It is now time to put books in their hands that will keep them interested.

My Project

Each teacher in our school has chosen a series of books that have meaning to them or which they enjoyed reading as a child. We are purchasing multiple copies of that entire series, with each teacher identifying a corner of their classroom which would be dedicated to that specific book series Students choose a series they would like to read and then visit that teacher in the morning before school starts. The teacher gives them the first book in the series and the student reads the book. After they are finished, the student visits the same teacher to swap the book for the next in the series. Accountability for reading is made through student-teacher interaction and a relationship is developed to keep the students interested in the series.

Our students deserve to have this feeling of comfort and escape in literature.

As teachers, we need to provide this place for them. Without us putting great literature in our student's hands, they will never know what it feels like to fall in love with a good book, and feel like you've lost a good friend once you are done reading it.