Book Lunches

Book Lunches at St. Thomas’s:


The first book lunches began in the fall of 2003.  Their purpose was to get students to do something authentic with the books they had read for summer reading.  What do people do with books they read, once they leave school?  They talk about them, at least some of the books.  The “Nutmeg Books” provided the right opportunity for St. Thomas’s students to talk about books. 
 

Each year in the state of Connecticut, ten books are nominated for the Nutmeg Children’s Book Award by a panel of educators and student representatives.  The nominated titles are released in February and students across the state read the books and vote for their favorite in January of the following year.  (That means in February 20012, the titles nominated for the 2013 award will be announced!)

St. Thomas’s students entering grades 4-6 are required to read over the summer one of the ten books nominated for the Nutmeg Award.  (A large percentage of the students read more than one, and it’s always fun to see who reads all or most of them.)  When students return to school in the fall, they are scheduled for a book lunch in the library with a small group of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who have all read the same Nutmeg Book.  We usually manage to finish the Nutmeg Book Lunches before Halloween, which is no easy feat with the 5th graders at Nature’s Classroom for a week in September,  the 6th graders have pizza lunch duty on Wednesdays, the 4th graders go to Ellis Island in October…you get the point!!
 


It didn’t take long for the fall Nutmeg Book Lunches to gain momentum.  By 2005, Book Lunches became year-round, monthly events, November through May.  After the Nutmeg Book Lunches end in October, Book Lunches are optional. Thanks to the generosity of the PTO, seven copies of each month’s Book Lunch selection are available in the library.  Students in grades 4, 5, and 6 may borrow a copy to read for two weeks.  Students interested in discussing the book can sign up for the Book Lunch on the bulletin board across from the computer room.  Book Lunch groups are  small so that students can really have a conversation about the book, rather than feel like they are in a class where they have to raise their hand to speak.  Multiple Book Lunches are held each month for the same book so that all students who sign up are accommodated.

I am frequently asked how I choose titles for Book Lunches.  Often I select books that students might not otherwise pick up on their own.  This year I chose books that I thought demonstrated the theme--The Power of Words.  I look forward to discussing the books and the theme with students this year!