# 84&)#?3#&#,**F#8&-FL# by Kate Narita
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Kate Palaces Narita is a fourth grade teacher at The Center School in Stow, MA, and she is the author of 100 Bugs! A Counting Book. When she is not out and about driving, teaching, or cheering on her two sons, Kate lives, writes, and hikes on a small mountain in central Massachusetts. There is a magical part of Mt. Wachusett in every one of her stories. Be it small wonders like darting dragonflies and gorgeous garden phlox, or large wonders like munching moose and beautiful balsam firs, she celebrates nature's bounty each and every day.
In the next hour, the kids who chose the pile will
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tudents “love finding and reading new and
spend five minutes meeting with each child in the
interesting books.” They also love reading
other half of the class to partner read one or two
books, “you might never read.” In addition, students love “seeing what different books are like,
of their books. There is no chance for students to
and what their authors are like.” These are my
get sleepy or stare out the window because they
students’ quotes about book walks.
know they only have five minutes to look at the
What’s a book walk? It’s an activity I learned about from Karina Hirschhorn, a school librarian
goods the stationary student is offering. Think of it as book speed dating.
in Maryland. In her library, she sets up piles of
What ends up happening is that the child who
books on tables, and the students rotate through
is staying in one spot, starts to like one of the books
each table to look at covers and read a few pages
in her pile after reading a few pages during the first
of the books she has displayed. Students discover
rotations. Then, she begins to sell one book to
new authors or genres. They leave her library with
everyone who rotates through to her station. They
books that they may never have found had she left
try to persuade like professional booksellers. Kids
them hidden on her library shelves.
exclaim, “We have to read this one, it’s so funny,”
Once a month in my classroom, I gather my
or “This is about football. Let’s read this one.” But,
favorite books from my classroom library or our
the rotating student has the final say in which book
school bookroom. I split the books into piles of
they’ll read. Sometimes the rotating student says, “I
five, making sure that there are no duplicate
don’t like football. Let’s read this book about
authors or topics in a single pile. I invite half of my
animals.”
class to select the pile that most appeals to them. 90
