Giving Our Readers Choice In Book Clubs With The Kwame Alexander Bookfest! Read How We Are Kicking It Off At Our School.

                 

We are so excited to be kicking off something new for our readers this fall. 

It's the Kwame Alexander Bookfest! 

As shared online, 

Kwame Alexander Bookfest, brought to you exclusively by Follett, creates a uniqu book club experience - available for Grades 3-8 - by allowing students to choose their books and giving teachers the resources to inspire robust student-led discussions. 

Each book, chosen by Kwame, ensures students will see themselves reflected in what they read, promotes academic achievement, and provides opportunities for students to engage with each other in lively discussions.

Each grade-appropriate collection includes the resources teachers need to encourage student choice and guide meaningful discussions to strengthen student identity and develop community and empathy.

Each grade level collections includes books, discussion guides, a Kwame Alexander Bookfest bin, an educator guide and Just Read Podcasts. 

I especially can't wait to share the Just Read Podcasts with our readers!  These provide access to interviews between Kwame and select authors to further engage students. 

As I sat down with my 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers at Van Meter to plan how we were going to bring Bookfest to our school, the resources online were super helpful. 

When we received our book sets and the other materials, the Bookfest Discussion Guide for each book we chose and the Bookfest Educator Guide, helped the teachers and I plan how we are going to make this an amazing reading experience for all of our students. 

It also gives me the best feeling to know my teacher colleagues will have what they need to support their readers within their classrooms throughout the Bookfest too. 

Last week, we are kicked off the Kwame Alexander Bookfest with our 5th graders by introducing three of the books using this choice board.  If you would like to make changes to this choice board, you can make a copy here.

This choice board will give students a chance to listen to the book trailer for each book and make a decision on what book they want to read first during Bookfest. 

I also made this poster to set up by the books on the new book shelf we added to Katie Flaw's 5th grade classroom. This will get the kids excited about Bookfest as we kick it off. 

You will find the Bookfest kick off poster we are using here where you can make a copy for your own poster. 

We will be sharing our Bookfest journey on my blog and on social. We hope you follow along, friends. 

We can't wait to see what the Kwame Alexander Bookfest brings to our readers this year! 

You can find the Kwame Alexander Bookfest here on Follett's Titlewave site.