Dear Book, Will You Be My Valentine?

 I don’t know about you, but holidays are tough teaching days for me. The kids are crazy excited, and some just don’t feel like working. Enter holiday-themed activities to the rescue! In the past, I’ve purchased task cards that would help my students practice skills while moving around the room, but I felt like some aren’t putting in the necessary effort to make this task purposeful. I’ve also tried to ignore the holiday altogether, and that quickly backfired. This year, I decided to embrace the holiday with creative, engaging lessons and activities.

   On different social media outlets, I’ve seen teachers that have conducted book speed dating with their middle and high school students, and I loved the idea. This activity promotes literacy in a fun and creative way and gives students a chance to browse a book that they might never choose from the library themselves. Another plus is that it’s easy to set up and QUIET! I thought Valentine’s Day would be the perfect day to set this up for my students. And, I am quite happy to say, it was a total success! My students loved every minute of this activity, and I loved that the day went by smoothly (well, except for the rain).

Here is how I set it up:

1. I created a booklet that helped to walk them through the process. They were expected to take notes on their first impressions of the book and if they’d want a second date after reading for a couple of minutes.
2. I looked over my book check out list to see what genres and titles were popular in my classes and tried to grab books that were lonely and needed some love. I pulled 35-40 titles off the shelves and randomly dispersed them around the room.
3. Students came in, and I let them know what our objective was for the day: fall in love with a new book (they laughed at my love/dating lingo).
1. I had them walk around the room until they found a book that caught their eye. Then they sat with the book and look at the superficial aspects of it (the cover, summary, length of the book, font size, etc). I told them it was okay for them to judge a book by its’ cover here. During this time, they made a first impression judgment call- It is love at first sight? Just want to be friends? Or is it never going to happen?
2. 
   Next, I set the timer for 3 minutes, and they got to know their books a little better by reading the first couple of pages.
3. Then they decided if they would consider a second date with this book.
4. We repeated this progress four times, and a couple asked for more dates (hehe).
4. While they were reading, I played some calming restaurant music in the background and passed out little snacks because all book dates should include good food.
5. Lastly, I asked my students if any of them fell in love with a book and wanted to share the title with the class. We had a whole group discussion on some of the books that had been sitting lonely on the library’s shelves. Students then completed a reflection on the task and had time to check out any of the books for a second date. Holiday teaching day success!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jenni Merry