Book Tasting & Musical Chairs

Today I tried out a twist on my Book Speed Dating lesson by using Buffy J. Hamilton's great Book Tasting and Musical Chairs event.

This is a lesson aimed at introducing students to new genres and authors.

To prepare, I took thirty books off the shelves that I knew the Year 8s coming in during Period 5 would (hopefully) enjoy.

I then printed off the book tasting sheets and book tasting placemats from Buffy's site.

I then arranged the tables in a U-shape and put the books and placemats out on the tables.

When the class came in, I explained the rules. I would start a song (Superstition by Stevie Wonder) and they would walk around the tables. When the music stopped, they would sit at whatever book they were standing in front of. The timer came on the screen - they had 5 minutes to read in silence. 

When the 5 minutes were up, they were asked to fill out the form for their first Book Tasting.

They had to judge the cover, the blurb and check wether or not they think they'd be interested in borrowing the book. 

They also had to write a few sentences reflecting back on what they've read. 

In the end we had time for the class to do four book tastings. We then had a discussion around the books, which ones they liked, which ones they didn't like and which ones they absolutely had to have.

About a third of the class asked to borrow a new book at the end of the lesson.

It was a huge success and I'm excited about introducing it to all of Year 7 & 8 over the next few weeks.