This year the Elementary and Middle School teachers have been fortunate to be involved in school wide literacy training. The training is a part of the Regie Routman in Residence programme. Every Wednesday, small groups of teachers gathered to discuss, learn and share best practices. During the initial training for this programme, teachers were asked to read the book, The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. In her book, Miller discusses the 40 book challenge, which challenges teachers, students and parents to read 40 books from different genres within a year.

After reading this book, the Grade Three team (as well as many others) decided to issue this challenge to our community of learners. We kicked it off with a skit at our assembly. The teachers performed and talked about their own reading habits, books they loved, and genres they liked or found challenging. We issued the challenge to all of the students and parents in the audience.

The professional development we received had encouraged us to have the students reorganise the classroom library by genre. They engaged in conversations about why such and such book was fantasy or adventure. These activities caused quite a buzz in the hallways as they were speaking about genre, going to the library with fresh ideas and sharing their finds. It also introduced the students to topics and subject areas they had never considered.

Armed with new information about genre and a well-organised library, students were ready for the next step. Students were given a recording sheet to keep track of their reading. Each time they complete a book, they are meant to write the title, author, genre and the date completed. Many of our readers are discovering science fiction, autobiographies and historical fiction. They are actively encouraged to challenge themselves with new authors and genres.

The challenge is about so much more than completing the books. While reading 40 books in your free time is a fantastic accomplishment, it is really about discovery. The challenge forces students to move outside of their comfort zone and try something new. I know as an adult, I have my favorite authors and genres that I tend to stick with. They are like old sweaters; comfortable and familiar. I have challenged myself and tried science fiction and I survived. I actually enjoyed it. The wider the variety of literature our students become familiar with, the better. It will help to improve their vocabulary, sentence structure, and word choice. It will provide them with examples of different beginnings and endings. It will introduce them to such an amazing array of characters, that character development in a story becomes much easier.

Our goal is that by the end of the school year, all of our students have completed the challenge. It is already starting to make a difference in their writing. I am certain they will all be successful and happily celebrate their accomplishments.

So readers…….will you take the challenge?