Don Benito Elementary’s school and classroom libraries are a key tool for Lauren Partma and the rest of Don Benito’s staff. These libraries are spaces that foster excitement for reading, especially for younger students entering school for the first time. So when many of Don Benito’s books were damaged by smoke in the Eaton Fire, Partma used her PEF Teacher Grant to begin rebuilding the school’s collection.
Partma’s goal for the restored Don Benito book collection was for it to be filled with books that get students engaged in reading. That meant researching what students would want in the catalog. To see what books suited the students’ tastes, Partma used a combination of reordering popular books from the previous collection and mini book clubs.
Mini book clubs were created when Partma would randomly pull students from classrooms to form small groups. These groups would then be given a book to read and would be brought back together for group check-ins. While together, the students would discuss the books that they had been reading for their book clubs. Partma would also interview the students about their reading, what the book was about, characters they enjoyed, and other questions to see how engaged the students were in their books. When students were excited and engaged with a book, Partma knew that the book would make a great addition to Don Benito’s collection.
“‘Can you pull us (from class) Ms. Partma’–was said by multiple students often! The first grade teacher at my school said ‘you have created reading monsters’. Students would ask me on the daily to be ‘pulled’ to come into my room and have little mini books clubs on the couches. They LOVED the time being read to and having these little mini book clubs”
– Lauren Partma, Don Benito
What started as a project to replace smoke-damaged books has grown into a way for Don Benito to connect as a school community through a shared love of reading. Because the mini book clubs mixed students from different classrooms, kids formed friendships with classmates they might not otherwise have met, with reading as their common ground. Those friendships helped students grow into confident, enthusiastic readers, and that confidence spread well beyond the mini book clubs, leading to spontaneous hallway conversations about their books, students recommending what to read next to each other, and book clubs meeting up outside of class to continue their book chats.
Interested in supporting classroom resources like this? You can support the work of teachers like Lauren Partma by donating to our Teacher Grants.
