A few months ago, our librarian shared a phenomenal strategy with us for exposing readers to new (and sometimes old!) books–a Read Around.   The directions were pretty basic:

Mrs. Meihaus’ purpose was to (re)introduce older readers to books they may have missed (or overlooked because they have old covers) and encourage them to try some new things.  In the 40 minutes we spent in the activity, we were able to peruse (which was a word she taught us the meaning of and how to do) over 40 new (or old!) titles that we were previously not on our 5th grade radars!  What a gift!  It was great to hear how many kiddos found some fabulous new try-its–even the ones who only read certain titles or series.  Impressive, really.

Well…I liked the strategy so much, that I knew I had to do it in my own classroom library.  Just like in Mrs. Meihaus’ library downstairs, I have books that are FABULOUS stories, but may be a few years old, or have a worn cover.  Classics, really, that need a second chance.

So we tried it for ourselves.

Tables started out like this, with two books at each seat.

Learning how to peruse is a useful new skill!

One part of perusing that many kiddos tried was reading the first few pages.

I pulled out many unread (old and new) books for readers to try.

I love how serious and diligent my readers are during things like this–they really dig in deep and learn well. 🙂

Have you ever done a Read Around?  How did it go?  Did you find a new book you didn’t think you’d read?  Tell us about it!