Saying goodbye....

The Spring term for my after-school book club ended this past Friday. A rather abrupt ending due to the scheduling of the latest series of tests given by the state of Texas. Makes me wonder if this state is more interested in test results than actual teaching and learning.

The students were very disappointed because they expected to have book club meetings until the end of the term, which would have been mid-May. I explained that the testing had priority over the after-school programs. The students asked Why.... I had no answer for them other than I have to follow orders from the school’s principal.

I gave out reading certificates and Best Reader medals, plus all the kids received books for summer reading. We all hugged goodbye and the fifth graders promised to see me next year when they return for sixth grade. The sixth graders will go on to seventh grade in another building, so I won’t see them again unless I run into them in town.

This was my second year with the Book Club... it was better than the first... and next year’s club will most likely be better still. It’s only been a few days, and I miss all of those kids already. I hope they keep reading.

We had reading games this term... one game that I found on the Internet, and one game that I made up on my own... Book Bingo. I printed up game cards filled with titles and authors and characters, and names of libraries and bookstores.... the kids loved it, and even took turns calling out the squares and identifying which characters belonged to which books. Every single student this term overcame their reluctance to read out loud in front of the group. That was the best part for me this term... the disappearance of their lack of confidence.

Read. Just read! And wash your hands before you pick up the books so the pages stay clean. All of ‘my’ kids learned that rule. They laughed about it, but they understood and followed through.