Host a Book Tasting in Your Classroom!

January is rolling along and my kids (both my school and actual kids) are finally readjusted to our routine after winter break. While in real life, I find January-March the three most difficult months to endure because the weather hurts my face, at school it's a different story. January-March are, I think, the BEST months of teaching! By this point, students are well-acclimated to the schedule and expectations, and there is no looming break to look forward to. The weather, as I already mentioned, hurts your face, and the end of the year is still a long way away!! I feel like each and every day I have a captive audience. And that makes me HAPPY (despite the hurt-your-face weather!).

This week, we are getting ready to start our first round of literature circles. Our book choices are Wonder, Among the Hidden, Freak the Mighty, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and Running Out of Time. Gah! Don't you just love those books?!? I am so excited and can't wait to get started!

I've written before about how I make Literature Circles work in my classroom, but today I wanted to share how I get them started. It's one of my FAVORITE classroom activities that I stole borrowed from my friend, Janice Malone at ELA Seminars, LLC. It's called a Book Tasting and it's a hoot!

After I have the books picked, I make a "menu" for each one that features the book's synopsis and some reviews. Next, I set up my room with some super-cheap checkered tablecloths, paper place mats, and battery-operated votive candles (all from Amazon). A copy of each book is laid on the place mat. I stream some Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, put my favorite roaring fireplace video on the big screen, and set out a basket of after-dinner mints.

When the kids come in, they are grouped into a "party" and led to their table. Once everyone is seated, they get about 10 minutes to read and discuss the title at their table. Then, each party moves to a new table and "tastes" the choice there.

At the end of the tasting, after each party has sampled all the books, the kids rank their choices - "1" being the book they are most excited to read, "5" being the least - and give their sheets to me. Then, I group them into their Literature Circles. (Usually, I am able to give most kids one of the books in their top three slots!)

When I do activities like this with my 7th graders, I am reminded that even though their bodies are big and their mouths can sometimes be bigger, they are still just kids! They get so into the "pretending." When I was doing this with them the other day, after each party was seated, I overheard one kid saying to another, "Get your elbows off the table! You can't have your elbows on the table at a fancy restaurant!" And a bit later I heard someone telling a party-member to remember to "cover your mouth when you cough in a restaurant because you don't want your germs in the air to land on people's food!" Even after the book tasting was over, they insisted that I not remove the tablecloths and candles for writing class because it made the room a lot more fun :)

So, if you are getting ready to jump into a round of literature circles, or you just want to get your students to "taste" some different titles, give this a try!

Ever host a book tasting? Think you might want to? I'd love to hear from you!

Happy Teaching!!