Motivating+Community+Input+and+Involvement+in+Student+Reading+Materials

toc flat =Welcome Community Input and Involvement!=

Let's All Add Great Ideas We've Created That Work To:

 * __**Help involve parents and other community members in the students**__

//**Poetry/Popcorn Night:**// Invite families to come and enjoy popcorn while listening to students read some of their favorite poems they can read fluently with expression. Be sure to use microphones, so everybody can hear the poetry clearly. It's good to have students practice with the microphones before the actual event, so they know how to use them appropriately and aren't afraid of the bigger sound.

I like to use the poem of Maya Angelou titled __//I Love The Look of Words//__ as part of the invitation. I took a close-up photograph of a bowl of popcorn to use as the background.

//**__I Love The Look of Words__**// //**by Maya Angelou**//

//**I Love the Look of Words**// //**Popcorn leaps, popping from the floor**// //**of a hot black skillet**// //**and into my mouth.**//

//**Black words leap,**// //**snapping from the white**// //**page. Rushing into my eyes. Sliding**// //**into my brain which gobbles them**// //**the way my tongue and teeth**// //**chomp the buttered popcorn.**//

//**When I have stopped reading,**// //**ideas from the words stay stuck**// //**in my mind, like the sweet**// //**smell of butter perfuming my**// //**fingers long after the popcorn**// //**is finished.**//

//**I love the book and the look of words**// //**the weight of ideas that popped into my mind.**// //**I love the tracks**// //**of new thinking in my mind.**//

//**Community Book Reviewers:**// Introduce the public to the books review program at parent/teacher conference night. Invite adults in the community to preview books that are given to the library before they are published. Let them choose of a cart from the books that need to be reviewed. Have them fill out a checklist for each book they read that tells how they rate the book, to help determine if it is appropriate for use in the school library. Use whatever categories fit the materials in your library. When the books check out as appropriate, then students can have their turn to read them.

//**Jan Brett Night:**// Feature the books of Jan Brett around Christmas time to celebrate all of her great books. Use the Promethean board to access her website for students to see featured videos of her discussing how she wrote and illustrated her books, etc. Have a center for families to build their own gingerbread house on the computers and print them off as a souvenir. Have an area where students and their families can explore the Jan Brett book collection. Serve gingerbread men cookies to all guests that they can decorate with frosting.

janbrett.com

Keep it Legal:

 * Please only add material that you created and/or have legal rights to publish.

=Invite adults in the community to preview and review books being considered for students to read!=