March Reading Madness

March Madness has entered the classroom and we are voting our hearts out for our favorite books of the year!  The idea was inspired by this wonderful classroom post and I just HAD to get things started in our classroom!  The rules are simple, I created and laminated (for future use!) a bracket system like we see in the NCAA tournament.  Then, I assigned books to each of the bracket positions - a mixture of books we have read together this year and some of my favorites that are quick reads.  Then, we let the voting begin!  As you can see below, I have each child's picture laminated and that is their voting ticket - I give students a few days to vote for their favorites by placing their picture in the coordinating pockets and we see where the voting falls at the end of the voting period (I usually give students two days, but depending on the excitement for a particular book, we don't need that long!)

 Here are our "Sweet 16" books - Holes, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Frindle, Knuffle Bunny, The Junkyard Wonders, Strega Nona, Sarah, Plain and Tall, A Light in the Attic, Alvin Ho, Paul Bunyan, Clementine, Treasure Island (Graphic Novel), Owl Moon, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Stone Fox, and The Talking Eggs.

Students are given two choices to vote between and we see where the voting falls!

Below, in baskets, are set of books that we haven't already read together - it gets kids reading and sometimes even reading books they normally wouldn't have chosen on their own which makes any teacher very happy!  

Write MM on your planner for MONDAY for bonus points!  I will be out tomorrow so show the sub what great students P4 has!  :)