Bobcat Book Club

We are a: Volunteer Program, Severna Park Elementary School | 2019 Crystal Apple Award

Winner

One of the driving beliefs of Anne Arundel County Public Schools is we are better together. The Bobcat Book Club at Severna Park Elementary School truly exemplifies this belief. This book club is a reading incentive program designed by teachers, parents, and students to create an exciting challenge for intermediate and high-level readers in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Participating students read novels, graphic novels, and non-fiction books and then select from a menu of activities to show their understanding of the text. The program has been successful in maintaining the excitement for reading in the intermediate grades. In the 2018-2019 school year, we had 140 students participating in the program.

From the beginning stages of planning, it has been a collaborative effort to get the program running. A team of parents and teachers met over the summer to develop the structure and then met again throughout the year to fine-tune and make improvements. When the program was launched in the fall, teachers put on an exciting assembly to model fun ways to showcase their favorite stories. One teacher dressed as a tree, another played guitar and sang, and another wrote poetry. The teachers wanted to show that demonstrating knowledge about a
book could be entertaining, fun, and creative.

One of the highlights of this program has been how it has helped students build relationships with volunteers and teachers. The most popular comprehension activity is a lunchtime book chat, where students eat lunch with a parent volunteer or staff member and talk about the book and what they have learned. At the end of each marking period, students who have met their Bobcat Book Club reading goal are also invited to participate in celebrations and if a student completes the goal for all three marking periods, he or she has the opportunity to attend a literature-based field trip. In Spring 2019, students participated in a book-themed Escape Room at the Severna Park Library! Parents help every step of the way from tracking book completion to organizing celebrations and chaperoning.

Students have an important role in this program as well. The choice menu is a reflection of student voice, especially the opportunity to read graphic novels and complete non-writing activities. Students also brainstormed names for the program, two other names that were not chosen were “Popcorn” and “Program Yet to Be Named” (which was the program’s initial name). Students eventually voted on “Bobcat Book Club” and loved the chance to take ownership in a brand new school tradition.

By having teachers, parents and students work together to create this new and exciting extracurricular reading program, everyone shares ownership, which has contributed to the success of the Bobcat Bookclub.

Read more about the book club in the Severna Park Voice!