Series Reading
Series reading, not serious reading, is what my students are excited about. The cart I am currently processing full of NEW books has many series titles. Not just the fiction titles that you automatically assume like Bailey School Kids, the Lighthouse Family, Ghostville Elementary, Ricky Ricotta and such, but nonfiction series like the Rourke Discovery Series, Eye to Eye with Dogs, Bridgestone books, etc. While I work on readying these books, I have a constant circle of students browsing.
Two years ago we purchased 92 books in a nonfiction series set and challenged the low, low readers in fourth grade to work their way through the series. This activity was a BIG HIT! Students will beg me to copy the pages listing other books by the same author or in the same series and they walk around with lists they are checking off. Students are reading the backs of nonfiction books like the DK set to find others. They scan for publisher names and look for graphical clues to sets like colors, stars, and symbols.
We purchased a large number of graphic novels in a wide variety of topics and the students are trying to bribe me to let them be in the top 3 to check out the new books. Capstone Press and Stone Arch are suddenly words the kids use. I hear “Have you read the new graphic library history series by Capstone Press?” “No, I’m reading the new Graphic Library from Stone Arch.”
Students are creating their own bookmarks with lists of titles in a series so they can print and share with their friends. Through everyday activities they are utilizing the same tools Amazon.com incorporates for adults. Go, readers and read on!
