Books! Books! Books!

Second graders are immersing themselves deeply in books. They are sharing the stories, facts and pictures with each other, and are deeply involved in conversation and debate. Working from the top of Bloom's Taxonomy, students are comparing and contrasting three books of their choosing in an effort to decide which book is the best. Doing so engages the children in an activity that demands they use their developing analytical skills to support their final evaluation.

Obviously we are in the Season of Second Grade Book Awards. An annual event, our second graders each choose a genre or topic they would like to evaluate. The topics are as broad as sports books and as focused as Elephant and Piggie books. The students work with a friend or two with similar interests and then nominate three books within their "genre" to compare. But how do we compare the books? Students are passionate about the books they enjoy and know at the start of the process which book they think should win. Therefore, we help students find ways to compare the books, and (somewhat) distance themselves to make an (almost) objective judgement. This structures the conversation in a way that provides the students with tools to support their opinions. The students identify three key areas to evaluate the books. This year some of the ways stories are being compared are:

• Pictures: funniest, most colorful, most beautiful, most helpful
  
• Most gross facts
• Recipes with the easiest to get ingredients
• Recipes with the easiest to understand directions
• Humor that causes the most reaction
• Funniest words

Presently the students are hard at work poring over their books, trying to find examples that support their choice for winner. It is an energetic process, that sometimes needs the mediation of a trained adult. However, engaging respectfully in conflict and finding a common ground is a skill that needs to be developed in every child. This project gives students another opportunity to strengthen this skill in a low stakes environment.

Once the students have chosen a winner they will create an award that reflects their category and finally present their work at an upcoming assembly to all of lower school.
And the winner is.....
Stay tuned to find out!