Musical Reading Chairs

I thought I had finished teaching for the year, but on Monday I was asked to teach one more class this week.  Since it was the middle of inventory and book fair, I knew I couldn't use any tables (book fair had them all) and could only use a small area in the library.  So, I tried musical reading chairs.  Students are about to leave for the summer, so it's an excellent time to remind them to read for fun!


I started by reminding students how to quickly assess whether they want to read a book, including looking at the cover, reading the summary and reviews on the back, reviewing the table of contents, then opening and reading for a few minutes.  After I explained how we would play musical reading chairs (no one gets eliminated, they just get to stop at a different book every time the music stops), I gave them my last book selection tip.  Ask your friends what they like.  I found thumbs-up memo notes, which they all recognized as the Facebook Like It symbol. After the timer sounded, students wrote their name on the like it sticker on the inside cover if they liked the book. 

At the end, each student entered the number of likes for the book at their last stop.  Here's a glimpse at some of our favorite books: