Digital Book Reviews – Part 1 – The Concept

Some very exciting things are happening at Weis Elementary School in Pensacola, Florida. We are working very hard on raising the achievement level of our students.  We have a solid reading program that includes small group guided reading and word study instruction where groups are formed by developmental levels.  We also have an exciting new initiative called LEAP (Learning Extension and Projects) where we implement literacy-focused, technology-infused, project-based learning.  Whew! Maybe we will tell you more about that later!

What we want to share with you now is our focus on promoting wide reading.  We know that there is a strong correlation between the amount of reading and reading achievement.  We also believe that engagement is a key component in our reform efforts.  So we have come up with a plan to encourage more independent reading and to increase engagement and interest in books.  To meet our goals we plan to become better at matching books to students and to see teachers throughout the building become Book Dealers.

In this “story” we are going to share what happens this year as we implement the project. The key players in this team project are:

• Mrs. Simpson the resource teacher who is focusing on technology infused instruction
• Mr. Heubach, a techie who is working at Weis through a grant with the University of West Florida
• Mrs. Kemp, the media specialist
• Production Team, to be made up of fifth graders

1. 1. The student reads several books
2. 2. The student writes a review using a template
3. 3. The review is recorded
4. 4. The review is shared with QR Codes

In our next post we will share all about the planning process including the decisions made about which programs and technology to use.