I attended Camp Read A Lot on August 7. This was the first day and had sessions on Early Childhood books and Grades 2-4. I read all the Early Childhood books and sat through 6 different discussions about the different books. Most of the books were good and had lots of beautiful illustrations. I will be able to use a majority of them for library story times, but I felt a lot of them were for a school setting.
The keynote speaker of the day was David LaRochelle. I have heard him speak before and he does a fantastic job! He told a little bit of his childhood story and how at an early age he was interested in writing. If it was not for his 2nd grade teacher and one of his co-workers when he was a teacher, he may not be a published author today. He said the biggest thing you can do is “believe in a child.”
In the afternoon, the speaker was Ralph Covert and he talked about submersive learning, which means to teach something to students without them actually realizing it. His main points were Fun is Fun, have teaching moments by having fun, engage your audience, open a door to explore and songs can be the lessons. He also entertained us with a few of his songs! At the end of the day David talked about his books “MOO” and “It’s a Tiger!” He gave us ideas on how to use both of them with a group of young children.
I learned that you should always include these fundamentals when presenting a story time. Read, Write, Sing, Play and Talk.
Thanks to Shelly, Maureen and Rebecca for all their hard work. It was a fun day of learning.