 |
Why don't we have a required "Druid Hills Middle Reading List"?
Because Druid Hills' reading levels and interests are so diverse, ranging from 6th graders who still giggle over Captain Underpants books to ESOL and Special Ed students to 8th graders who read Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time for fun.
Because we think it is more important to find just the right book to engage a student than to have a one-size-fits-all required reading list. We do, however, maintain a Popular for Middle School list (among many others) in our library catalog. We participate in the 25 Book Campaign and all of our students are required to read 25 books each year. Great summer reading choices might also include the new Georgia Book Award Nominees used by our Reading Bowl team.
Because Druid Hills librarian Ms. Lapolla is happy to offer individual reading consultations to any student, producing a printed booklist of 20 or so titles geared to their Lexile reading level (this number can be found on a student's CRCT report) and based on their interests and past favorites. Many informal consultations happen throughout each school day as students are in to look for books. A great tool for creating your own booklist is Lexile.com's Find a Book
Because our library catalog makes it easy to find good books. All students are taught how to use the catalog. It is available online and may be accessed at home. It is filled with useful librarian-created booklists that help our students find a book based on their own interests and reading levels. These lists include award winners, popular topics, genres, reading levels, fiction related to curriculum areas, and more. Our catalog also allows students to login and write book reviews, which are fun to
view as they consider a title in the catalog, a la Amazon.com.
Kathryn Lapolla
| |
