29th September Reading Champions Part 2

The other success this term followed on from what Steven Layne said at the ALEA conference about it being everyone on the staff's job to sell reading to the students. So every staff member was given six Reading Champion stickers with their name on it which they had to affix to the cover of books in the library. These books were displayed in the library, in classrooms and in the school foyer. Students could then borrow them, and borrow them they did! It caught on like wildfire and staff were asking for more stickers, and then stickers for the children in their class. Students were keen to have their own sticker on a book. The Principal of the school, it is a Preschool to Year 12 school, had stickers, my boss, the Head of libraries had stickers, the non-teaching staff had stickers and the PE teacher and music teacher had stickers.

In other terms I have spoken at assembly, 'sold' books or talked about the Premier's reading Challenge, but this term class teachers with or without their class's help did it. We had a Reading Champion speak at each assembly. The Principal even did it. He is not naturally at home with very young children but he spoke about an Oliver Jeffer's book and did a wonderful job of connecting it to the children's lives.

One teacher took the idea of student recommendations a step further and the students wrote about their book and made a picture of themselves carrying the book for me to display in the library.