Thanks to Jill Patchin for this great post about an early reader book club!
We had our first “My First Book Club” meeting recently, and it was a blast! The group is intended for children transitioning into reading their first chapter books along with a parent or other adult. We took registration for this event, and got a great response. The day of the program we had 12 kids and 9 adults attend.
The book for our first month was Mercy Watson to the Rescue. Each parent and child checked the book out on their own and read it before attending the program. I made up activity books for each child. Inside were word finds, a maze, and other activity sheets I found online along with some sheets that said things like “Who was your favorite character? Draw their picture below.” For each question that I asked verbally in the program I gave the kids an opportunity to voice their answer or opinion aloud, write it down in their activity book, or draw a picture of it in their activity book. This way I hoped that kids of all ability levels would be comfortable.
We also did a craft – making pig snouts (both kids and grown ups!), and played a game – shoot the “butter” (yellow pom-pom) onto the “toast” (cardboard cut out). This pom-pom popper activity was an idea I found on Pinterest. We feasted on cupcakes decorated to look like pigs.
I have had a wonderful response and the parents commented that they really liked reading the book together and attending the program.
Our next “My First Book Club” will be in November and our book is Down Girl and Sit: Home on the Range.
As an ice-breaker, each pair put together a simple animal puzzle, then had to make the noise of their animal. They found the other pair in the room with the same animal that way, and introduced themselves.
If you have questions about this program, contact Jill–jillp @ eauclaire.lib.wi.us. Bonus: She has 4 activity books left, for the fastest responder!