Monday, December 21, 2009

Fall Into Reading Challenge Update

I am excited to give this update about the Reading Challenge.
There were so many things I enjoyed. I enjoyed reading new books by new authors. Some because of Cybils, some because my students were constantly telling me about books I had to read. I have a list of books and authors on my desk at school of books to check out in the new year. I was unable to stick to my original list because I became a Cybils panelist and had a lot of books there to read. I stil have around 18 books to finish this week for them. I liked the idea of a list and will do that again next year. One reason is that my students saw my list and chose books off of it. They also kept me motivated to continue reading. I actually had one student at the school that read 102 books. They obviously are not in my intensive reading class but they motivated many students. On girl had joined to show support settng a goal of only 5 and read 28. She is one who took 6 books home for Winter break.

In regards to our school participating in the Fall Into Reading Challenge, Johnson Middle school has ended its thirteen week Fall Into Reading Challenge on a high note.
Students when challenged set lofty goals. Johnson had a total of 194 participants with 87 of them meeting or exceeding their goal.
The total of all goals set was 2,550 books. Johnson read 1,984 books. This was not bad for our first reading challenge. We met 78% of our goal. Over 100 books, some autographed by the author, were given away during random drawings and all participants were given a bookmark, handmade by my sewing club at school. The greatest accomplishment was seen when our students had to take a county test. They had taken one just two weeks before the reading challenge started. The second one came a week before the end of the challenge. Our principal challenged them to increase their scores by a minimum of 15% and their reward would be a pizza party. Most of the students who participated in the challenge met the principal's challenge. I was happy when they gave us a list of the students who had won the party and I was able to compare it to those who had participated in the challenge. I am proud not only of our students but of the staff who supported this challenge. I had plans of doing this again but had not told the students. But one of the student ambassadors was telling our parents about the challenge at our open house as a selling point for sending their child to our school. She brought them over and introduced them to me in case they had any questions. I look forward to doing this next year. My school will start it a little earlier or end it earlier. It was very hectic trying to end this around all of the holiday activities and grades. Below is a list of all of my books read for this challenge. My students challenged me to read 85 books. I accomplished this and then some, in part to being a Cybils panelist for Middle Grades Fiction. If you were to check my original list found here you would see what I had originally planned to read changed due to the Cybil's books. I am very pleased with how it all turned out. I ended up reading a total of 126 books.

Black Circle - Patrick Carman
Raji - Arrion kathleen Brindley
The D
oor to Time - Pierdomenico Baccalario
Nightmare Mountain - Peg Kehret
Plain Promise - Beth Wiseman
After the Ball - Barb Greenberg
The Squirrels Birthday and Other Parties - Toon Tellengen
Timescape - Robert Liparulo
Chin and the Magic Stones: becoming Guardians - L.J. Salazar
How to Catch and Keep a Vampire - Diana Laurence

Saved By Grace - Sonya M. Buchanan
The rules of Survival - Nancy Werlin
11 Birthdays - Wendy Mass
Also Known As Harper - Ann Haywood
Peace, Locomotion - Jacqueline Woodson
Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba - Margarita Engle
Anything But Typical - Nora Raleigh Baskin
The Year the Swallows Came Early - Kathryn Fitzmaurice
Positively - Courtney Sheinmel
Winnies War - Jenny Moss
The Last Invisible Boy - Evan Kuhlman
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had - Kristin Levine
Zorgamazoo - Robert Paul Weston
Callies Rules - naomi Zucker
Annie's Adventures - Lauren Baratz - Logsted
The Problem with the Puddles - Paula Wiseman
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters - Lenore Look
Love, Aubrey - Suzanne LaFleur
Fiona Finkelstein, Big-Time Ballerina - Shawn K. Stout
All the Broken Pieces - Ann E. Berg
I So Don't Do Mysteries - barrie Summy
The Last Newspaper Boy In America - Sue Corbett
Al Capone shines My shoes - Gennifer Choldenko
The Tallest of Smalls - Max Lucado
Strawberry Hill - Mary Ann Hoberman
Amelia's Most Unforgettable Embarrassing Moments - marissa Moss
Melonhead - Katy Kelly
The Laceyville Monkeys Say the Right Words - Harriett Ruderman
Martyn Pig - Kevin Brooks
Guts - Gary paulsen
An African Tale - Enna Neru
One Speaks: Sacred Relationship Revealed - Richela Chapman
A Walk For Sunshine - Jeff Alt
Grandfather's Story Cloth - Linda Gerdner & Sarah Langford
The Unicorn Treasury - Bruce Coville
The Ruby Key - Holly Lisle
Messy Tessy - Leah Orr
Who Wants to Be a Poodle, I Don't - Lauren Child
The Never Pals - Rocky Ruznek
Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone - Dene Low
Jemma Hartman Camper Extraordinnaire - Brenda A. Ferber
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love - Laura Tarshis
Born to Fly - Michael Ferrari
The Brooklyn Nine - Alan Gratz
Bull Rider - Suzanne Morgan Williams
Captain Nobody - Dean Pitchford
Leaving Carolina - Tamara Leigh
Waht Matters Most - Melody Carlson
Limelight - Melody Carlson
Operation Yes - Sarah Lewis Holmes
Bobby vs Girls (accidently) - Lisa Yee
A Recipe For Robbery - marybeth Kelsey
Faith, Hope and Ivy June - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Carolina Harmony - Marilyn Taylor McDowell
A Season of Gifts - Richard Peck
Take the Mummy and Run - Mary Amato
Extra Credit - Andrew Clements
The Kind of Friends We Used to Be - Frances O'Roark Dowell
Piper Reed Gets a Job - Kimberly Willis Holt
Scat - Carl Hiaasen
The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z - Kate Messner
Standing For Socks - Elissa Brent Weissman
Solving Zoe - Barbara Dee
Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly
Journey of Dreams - Marge Pellegrino
Stop It! - Sally O. Lee
Jack's Dreams Come to Life - Sara Jackson
White Picket Fences - Susan Meissner
Brushing Mom's hair - Andrea Cheng
Mudville - Kurtis Scaletta
Lucky Breaks - Susan Patron
The Story of Christmas - Gwen Ellis
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney
Storm Chaser - Chris Platt
I Am Jack - Susanne Gervay
Ruby Flips for Attention - Derrick Barnes
Angel Cake - Cathy Cassidy
Operation Redwood - S. Terrell French
N.E.R.D.S. - michael Buckley
Leaving the Bellweathers - Kristin Clark Venuti
The Mostly True Adventuers of Homer P. Figg - Rodman Philbrick
The Mysterious Benedict Society adn the Prisoner's Dilemma - Trenton Lee Stewart
Paris Pan Takes the DAre - Cynthea Liu
Red, White and True Blue Mallory - Laurie Friedman
For Faithful Friends - Marilyn Randall
Touchdown Trouble - Fred Bowen
Beyond the Station Lies the Sea - Jutta Richter
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Alibi Junior High - Gred Logsted
Dear Pen Pal - Heather vogel Frederick
Dani Noir - Nova Ren Suma
The Year of the Bomb - Ronald Kidd
Confetti Girl - Diana Lopez
Wild Things - Clay Carmichael
My Life in Pink and Green - Lisa Greenwald
Black Angels - Linda Beatrice Brown
Newsgirl - Liza Ketchum
Sahwira an African Friendship - Carolyn Marsden
When the Whistle Blows - Fran Cannon Slayton
Road to Tater Hill - Edith M. hemingway
Secrets of a Lab Rat, Not Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay) - Trudy Trueit
Liberty Porter - First Daughter - Julia Devillers
Rescuing Seneca Crane - Susan Reinhold
Anna's World - Wim coleman
The Beef Princess of Practical County - Michelle Houts
Bystander - James Preller
Kip Campbell's Gift (Funeral Director's Son) - Colleen Murtagh Paratore

Elmer the Christmas Elf - Marilyn E. Randall
Inside Out - Marilyn E. Randall
Gifts ofthe Heart- Karen Boes Oman
The Broken Road to Disaster Recovery - Keifer Bonvillain
Prodigal Sons - Sheldon Greene

Gone From These Woods - Donny Bailey Seagraves
The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis - Barbara O'Connor
Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Be
tter - Lauren Barnholdt

3 comments:

  1. Very Impressive and I am so proud of you and your students! That is just awesome!

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  2. Congratulations on motivating so many students to read!! :)

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  3. Glad that your challenge ended on such a high note. That's an impressive number of books read, by the students and by you.

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