GIFSL*: 47. The library is not a milk bar, but...

Last year, we started a hot chocolate draw with classes coming in to read in fiction on a regular basis (you can read about it here).

Well, right now it's summer, and hot/sticky/humid as February so often is.  We have a bunch of classes coming in regularly to read (more than last year! yay!), and nobody in their right mind would particularly savour hot chocolate.

An iceblock, though...

I know, I know, no eating or drinking in the library.  And the general rule still stands.  But I can break 'em if I want to.  I've not yet had any kid spill a hot chocolate or drip an iceblock.

Plenty of supermarkets sell those long iceblocks in plastic tubes.  Freeze 'em up, and it's an inexpensive treat (I pay for these out of my own pocket, in case you wonder - not from any school-provided library budget.  Some of the teachers also contribute for their classes).  Summer is definitely cheaper than winter.

I've improved the method for selecting the lucky recipients, too.  Was getting the teachers to note the names of students Doing The Right Thing (reading silently).  But that takes time and a bit of effort, and at the start of the year teachers don't necessarily know the name of every student.  Plan B: a class list and a random number generator site (eg. this one http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/random_no_custom.html ).  Randomly generate a number between 1 and 30, see which kid is at this number on the class list, teacher decides if said kid has been doing the right thing, (all kids start off in the draw, but if they misbehave, they have rendered themselves ineligible) and it's done.  Happy kid collects iceblock, classmates see random reward for virtue...

OK, they don't Need a reward.  But it's all part of our library marketing.  The library's a place where you can be comfortable.  Where treats happen.  Where good things are found.  A nice place to go, a good place to be, somewhere to look forward to, somewhere to enjoy.  Doesn't that sound like somewhere you'd like to visit?

It's not necessarily going to happen every lesson, but then again it might, the students don't know... everything that gets them in and settled and reading is useful to their progress.

Cheers

Ruth

*GIFSL= good ideas for school libraries