Book Club

by Early Math Counts

Thanks to reader Verinda, this week’s Focus on Families is on creating a “Book Club”.  She posted this,

I love books and my childcare children love them too. I Have a book club where every month it is mandatory for my clients to buy the book of the month from the scholastic book list I send home every month. This month it is MARVIN GETS MAD. I also take the children to the library on Thursday, when the librarian read stories and play games with them for about thirty minutes.

Book clubs are a really popular hobby for lots and lots of people out there.  I remember when Oprah Winfrey started her book club and, according to the press, people all over America started reading again.  That is pretty incredible.

The idea of a shared experience through books is pretty powerful. If everyone is reading the same thing, then there is a foundation for discussion.  This can happen in the classroom, when a book is read aloud to the children simultaneously.  If families are all reading the same books at home, there is a common thread that continues to stitch the community together.

Do you think your families would be OK with asking them to buy books?

9 Replies to “Book Club”

  1. Good Morning Jen,
    I am flattered to be mention in your blog this morning. To answer your question about families being ok with buying books, I order the books through SCHOLASTIC BOOKS they cost from $1.00 to $3.00. If the parent order online themselves they get a $3.00 off coupon which sometimes results in their book of the month being FREE.
    I also facilitate a book club with my fourth grade daughter it is called REAL GIRLS READ, she and eight other fourth grade girls come to my house on the third Saturday of the month after reading a selected book off of their Accelarated Reading list. They discuss the book, have a snack and choose the next book. When they return to school on Monday they take the AR test that is part of their reading grade. This month book was The Eight Keys. As a bonus we made book markers shaped like keys. Thanks again
    Verinda

    1. You have such great ideas Verinda- It is a pleasure to mention you. I suppose if the book ends up being \”free\” parents wouldn\’t mind, but I wonder if they are opposed to being \”told\” to buy the book. It is not so much the money as it is the idea. I, as a parent, would love getting suggestions for books and participating in a project like this. I also feel that it is GREAT for families to come together this way. Just pondering the notion of \”have to.\”

  2. I am trying to put together a schlostic book club myself I have a sign language area just sign language books, feeling books only , math book.

  3. Point well taken and pondered by other providers when we have our monthly network meetings, we discuss how I have so many requirements for my clients. I explained that at the initial interview of my potential clients we briefly go over what is in my handbooks for parents and myself. If they hire me they are aware of everything. Also I think the geographic area I provide care for is a great explanation as well. The families are two parent household, majority of them are teachers and the librarian of my suburb Matteson. It\’s all in the MANAGEMENTof your business.

    1. All of those things do make a big difference. If parents know what they are getting into from the get-go, they will be less likely to complain later. However, I have also found that what looks good on paper, may not look so good down the road.
      Thanks for hooking Patty up with Scholastic.

  4. Well first of all, I would like to thank math at home for the awesome daily blog updates. I would also like to thank Verinda for the awesome idea. I mentioned this to my daycare parents and they loved it. I have chosen to look at two books per month. We can use each book for about 2 weeks and plan activities around each book. So far the response from all my parents has been great. I looked at my scholastic catalogs and told my parents I could do two books a month for a cost of 5-8 bucks per month (and most likely less than that). So the children in my care will get two books a month and will give me a new way to look at my curriculum. Thanks again Verinda for the idea. I figured if I have a parent struggling with cost I could help them out every now and then because I have so many unused bonus points.

    1. That is awesome Sandra- I love that you took the bull by the horns and went ahead with a great idea. You\’ll have to let us know how it goes. Excellent work.

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