Nine excited teachers. Nine welcoming classrooms. An engaged principal. And more than 100 children receiving three books each for their home library. All of this equals the joy of reading!
THIS BOOK IS COOL! in School has been greatly welcomed into Samoset Elementary School. With nine classrooms from kindergarten to third grade participating in the program, this collaboration between the school, The Patterson Foundation, and the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is bringing fun and excitement to Samoset.
With books focusing on themes such as inclusion, diversity, and social-emotional learning, the teachers have been enthusiastic about the opportunity to participate. Comments such as “I love your lesson plans” and “I am beyond excited to teach with these books” have been exciting to hear. The reaction from the children parallels the thoughts of the teachers. According to one of the second-grade teachers, “The books are a HUGE hit, and the kids are excited to use them in class and take them home to their families.”
Each lesson plan provides a quick overview of the lesson, learning intentions and success criteria, the key standard(s) for the lesson, vocabulary, assessment options, important questions for the lesson(s), and extension activities for each book. These extension activities range from creating a puppet for retelling the story to researching the book topic to interviewing family members and friends, all with a goal of better understanding connections between the book and the child’s own life!
Further connections are being made with other SCGLR programs, including the upcoming Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge, in which each registered child will receive 20 carefully curated books at their reading level. Our second-grade teacher continued, “They (the students) were especially excited to tell their families about the THIS BOOK IS COOL! summer program.”
These teachers at Samoset Elementary School are reading warriors, always emphasizing that reading is the key to succeeding!
