It is my firm belief that “fostering a reading culture” is my primary responsibility as a teacher-librarian at Watson Elementary school. At my school, all 22 divisions have a booked library time each week. As each class (from preschool to Grade 6) enters the library, they sit at the carpet for story time. I begin engaging them as soon as they sit, handing out reading prizes, talking about how awesome the new public library is down the road, holding up the story I am about to dazzle them with. We connect with the book by reviewing what happened last week (if it’s a chapter book), judge it by the cover, remember other books by that same author, etc. By the time the story begins, the students are expectant and excited. After the story the students are given a chance for “questions, connections or comments,” sometimes with the whole group, sometimes with a partner.

Many years ago, I came across the following from the National Institute for Children’s Health and Development, “It takes 1000 hours of ‘lap time’ for young children to have the readiness skills in place to learn to read” (National Institute, 2013). I can tell when I read a story who has and who hasn’t had lap time. My weekly read alouds are part of reading readiness, building a world view, and showing how books can become lifelong friends. My mantra is, “When you fall in love with books, you’re made a friend for life!”

Other things in my school and practice to foster a reading culture are: continually purchasing new books, Accelerated Reader for those who like the challenge, 250 Nights of Home Reading program, author visits, Ready-Set-Learn event, Young Author Day, Watson Read-a-thon, RTI guided reading groups, Smart Reading, Reading Power, Reading Link Challenge book club, Fast ForWord reading intervention program, Scholastic Book Fairs, Strong Start library time, KinderFair, and much more.

I really like this article by Pam Allyn entitled, Ten Actions for Creating a Reading Culture (Allyn, 2012). In it, she lists simple, yet effective ways to build a reading culture. Most of these things, good librarians are already doing, but Pam tells how to boost the culture even more. Here is a suggestion, “Ask students to describe times when reading felt good to them, what they were reading at the time, and why it felt good” (Allyn, 2012). I LOVE this. So many things in life that are positive and successful are connected to a good feeling. It reminds me of a teacher saying I heard once, that students won’t remember what you taught them, but they will remember how you made them feel.

In my school district, it is rare to have an elementary school library open 100%. Watson is one of those schools. The children at my school have access to books continually. Or, as Donalyn Miller says, kids experience a “book flood” (Miller, 2012). Students LOVE coming to the library and they know that they can at any time throughout the day. There is no pressure or judgement, just encouragement, a wide variety of books and a librarian there to support and guide them. A culture of reading can’t help but flourish if these things are in place.

References

Allyn, P. (2012). Taming the Wild Text. Educational Leadership, 69 (6). Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Taming-the-Wild-Text.aspx

Miller, D. (2012). The Book Whisperer. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved from: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2012/03/share_a_story_shape_a_future_c.html

National Institute for Children’s Health and Development. (2013).  Retrieved from: portalsso.vansd.org/…/1000%20HOURS%20OF%20LAP.doc