Create a Book Tasting Experience for the 40-Book Challenge

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One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of the school year is to create a book tasting experience for my students. You’ve probably heard about this, or seen examples on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook. Today I’m going to answer some frequently asked questions about how I do this book tasting activity in my classroom.

How do you set up your classroom?

I want my students to really be hooked into this experience. To do that, I “transform” my room from a classroom to a quaint little café. I put the desks into groups to create tables, and then I will place a tablecloth over each table. (I got some really cute red and white checkered ones on Amazon-click here to see the ones I use!). I generally try to keep it to 4 desks at each table.

I also place a small vase with some fake flowers in the middle, along with a couple of fake tea lights to help create a fun ambiance. At each desk, I will place a paper plate with a book on it, and a pencil where the utensils would normally be placed. At the top of each plate, I place a little name card with each student’s name on it. I also make sure that my students’ reading trackers are at their place. (Want to see the reading trackers I use? Click here to check them out!) 

I will also dim my lights a little bit and open the windows, to create a softer light in our classroom. I like to play some simple piano music in the background. 

And of course, I need the books. Each table is assigned a different genre. I have a little sign posted that lists some of the characteristics of each genre in addition to giving some examples of books from that genre. I pull a stack of books from that genre and put it in the middle. 

(Note: My classroom library has over 600 books, so I don’t put all of my books on their desks. That would be overwhelming. I generally try to pull 15-20 books per genre that I think would be of interest to my students.)

I also like to have a recommendation list at each table. I got the cute (and cheap!) 4x6 picture frames from IKEA. I printed out some of the books that I recommend from each genre, and slid them in the frame. It stands up so nicely!

Finally, I display a sign on our whiteboard that says “Welcome to our Book Tasting Café.” These various elements really help to set the stage for this experience.

What genres do you introduce during your book tasting experience?

During this time, I want to introduce my students to the most common genres that we will be reading from during the school year. It also depends on how many students and tables I have. I want to make sure to have at least 5 genres for my students to explore.

The genres I usually stick with are:

• fantasy
• realistic fiction
• historical fiction
• non-fiction
• science fiction

If I have more students (and thereby more tables), I might also include 

• biography
• poetry
• fairytales & folklore.

Do you dress up at all to do this room transformation?

Absolutely! More invested I am in the experience, the more into this my students will be. This is a pretty simple costume. I dress up as a waitress. That means I am often in black slacks or a black skirt, a white shirt, and an apron. My hair will be up in a nice bun, and I will carry a pad of paper around with me. I create a name tag with a fake name on it, and introduce myself to my students as their waitress for this afternoon. Like any waitress, I am prepared with recommendations and ready to answer questions. And to really play this up, I will only respond to students when they call me by my fake name. (Who is this Mrs. Sanchez you keep asking for? I’m Jessica, the waitress!) 

When do you set this up and how long does it take?

I make sure to set this up while my students are not in the room. I plan to do this activity either first thing in the morning, after a specialty class (during my prep time), or after lunch/recess. I move the desks, set up the table cloths, and get everything that the students need in order to create this experience for them. If I’m doing this transformation by myself, it generally takes me about 45 minutes. If I have help, it goes by faster (I may or may not have recruited my assistant principal to help me a few years ago as she was walking by my room…). I do make sure to prep any materials I need beforehand. I’ll print off name cards and make sure I have their reading trackers before I set this up. This makes it easy for me to focus on the room transformation.

I love seeing my students when they walk into the room. They are often amazed at how quickly their classroom has been transformed and are eager to start the activity.

What does the experience look like?

When the students come in, they are instructed to find their name card, sit down, and wait for further instructions. Once everyone has found their place, I will announce to them that I am their waitress that will be serving them their books during this book tasting opportunity. I will have that one student that will inevitably put a book in his or her mouth, just to try and be smart, and I will inevitably have to explain that no, I don’t mean this literally. 

Once we’ve crossed that hurdle, I explain to them how to “taste“ a book. We look at the cover, and read the snippet on the back. If it is something that piques our interest, we can start reading the first chapter. After a few pages, we stop and ask ourselves “Is this something I would like to keep reading?” If the answer is “yes,” we write the title and author of the book in our reading tracker, and then place the book back in the center. We then grab a new book to “taste.”

When the activity starts, students are given 8-10 minutes at each genre. When they hear the signal, they clean up their table. They place books back and make sure there is a pencil next to each plate. Then they will get up and rotate to the next table, taking their reading tracker with them. 

Then, I set the timer and the book tasting begins again. During this time, I walk around and ask my students questions about what they have found, and ask if they have any questions. This continues until all of the students have had an opportunity to “taste“ each genre. Afterward, I like to give them a few minutes to chat with other people not in the groups about the books that they have “tasted.” 

To end the book tasting experience, I like to give them a small treat that they can actually eat. This is such a fun activity and it really gets students engaged and interested in reading. If you are doing the 40 book challenge, I highly suggest doing an activity like this so that your students know what type of books they can read from each genre. 

Want More Info on the Challenge?

This is Part 4 in a 6-part series about the 40 book challenge. Each week I'll post a new blog post that talks about one of the aspects of the challenge. Check out these blog posts to learn more!

Part 1: Why I Ditched Reading Logs and What I Do Instead

Part 2: How I Introduce the 40-Book Challenge to My Students

Part 3: How My Students Track the 40 Book Challenge

Part 5: FAQ about the 40-Book Challenge

5 Ways to Build Relationships with Students

You know that feeling at the end of the school year, where you have gotten in the groove with your students? You know who they are, what they need, what they love, what struggles they have? You’ve put in so much time and effort to connect with your students, and then all of a sudden, the year is over. That blessed summer break comes and goes all too quickly, and then all of a sudden you are back in the classroom with 25 new faces looking up at you in anticipation of what the year will bring. You get to start to build relationships with students all over again.

Building relationships with students is vital. For some students, it can come really naturally. For others, you may feel that you were working the entire year so that the student knows and understands that there is somebody who cares about them. I have found that the first couple of weeks are crucial for building solid relationships that can last throughout the year. There are various activities that I like to do with my students to help them get to know me, and that helps me get to know them. 

Here are five things that I have done to build relationships with students:

1. Do a “brown bag” activity

This is always a fun one to do. On the first day of school, I bring a brown bag with 5 to 6 items that I feel represent me. As I pull each item out, I asked my students to make an inference about what that object says about me. For example, I love to play the piano. So one of the items that go into my brown bag is a small piano ornament that I got for Christmas. From this, my students are able to make inferences such as maybe she plays the piano. Or maybe she loves Christmas. Or maybe, it’s both.

After I’ve modeled the brown bag activity for my students, I sent them home with their own brown bags. They bring them back the next day filled with 5-6 items that represent them. Over the next couple of days, my students will take turns sharing out what they brought and why. This may feel like a major show and tell at the beginning of the year, but I promise that from this activity, you will gain so much insight into who your students are and what they like.

2. Try out this “One Thing” activity

Another thing that I think is really important to building relationships in the classroom is where the students really get to know each other. It is a fairly simple activity, but it yields powerful results. In this activity, I give them a bunch of sentence starters for them to complete. They are:

• One thing I love is…
• One thing that makes me sad is…
• One thing that makes me laugh is…
• One thing I want to be better at is…
• One thing that makes me upset is…
• One thing I’m afraid of is…

I print out each sentence starter on a separate piece of paper, and then I put them around my room. At each sentence starter, there are pieces of paper where students can write down their responses. I tell my students to NOT write their names on the paper because I want them to feel like they can be honest in their answers. 

Over the next few days, I share out their answers anonymously. I’ve gotten some silly answers to these, but I’ve also received some serious answers too, such as “One thing that makes me angry is when my parents fight.” Or, “One thing that makes me sad is when I lost my turtle.” By doing this activity, my students see that they aren’t the only ones who experience strong emotions when something happens to them.

You can easily do this activity on your own, but if you want, I have all the sentence starters already typed up for you ready to go. All you need to do is print them off, put them up around your room, and your students will be ready to do this activity. I also have a digital version on a Google Form for you as well if that works better for you. Click here to check it out!

3. Become Pen Pals with Your Students 

One of my favorite things to do with my students is to write letters back and forth with them. Each week I have my students write me a letter. This letter often isn’t very long, but it gives me a chance to communicate in a different way with my students. When I first introduced the letter to them at the beginning of the year, they seemed a little apprehensive. However, as the weeks went on my students really loves getting to write to me. 

The thing about this activity though, is that you have to be willing to write back. You don’t have to write very much, but by creating that dialogue through writing with your students, you will help them in multiple ways. 

1. They will become better writers.
2. You will get to know what they like.
3. They get to ask you questions, helping them to know who you are.
4. Ultimately this helps to build a relationship with them.

I’ve had some students that have been extremely shy, and her struggle to talk to me about anything. But when they get a chance to write things down, they feel like they are able to express themselves. This is a chance for students to tell me things that they might not want other people to hear.

Sometimes my students can’t think of anything to write, so I always give them sentence starters. Some of the ideas I give them are:

• One thing I like to do at recess is…
• Some of my friends are…
• What is your favorite…?
• One thing I wish I could do better is…

I change up the sentence starters from week to week depending on whatever it is we are working on. If you want to do this with your students, I have a free weekly letter packet that you can sign up for here. I’ll send it straight to your email, so it doesn’t get lost.

4. Take an Extra Recess to Play with Your Students

The beginning of the year is a great time to take an extra recess or two. Students are still trying to adjust to being back in school after being at home the whole summer. I love taking my kids outside. The first thing I do is watch and observe who plays with who. I watch to see who has lots of friends, and who doesn’t seem to have very many friends. Even though I’m not often out at recess with my students, I take this time at the beginning of the year to make those observations about my students. 

I also like to join in with my students. To do this, I like to have some type of game in mind that we can all play together as a class. Whether it’s something like playing horse on the basketball court or playing some sort of tag, this is a fun way for students to know that you enjoy having fun too.

5. Start using student interests in class right at the beginning of the year.

Another thing you can do to build relationships is to take note of students' interests and start talking about them. A few years ago, I had a student that I could tell, really struggled with math. On the first day of school, I could see him starting to shut down when we did a small math problem from the year before. I knew that math was going to be a difficult subject for him. So I did whatever I could to get him more interested in math. I noticed one day that he was wearing A Stranger Things T-shirt. I asked him if he like Stranger Things, and he told me that he loved it! 

Well, what do you know? The next day one of our math problems was about a guy named Steve who worked at an ice cream shop. If you’ve watched season 3 of Stranger Things, you know what I’m talking about. My student was thrilled to see something he loved being used in math. And you know what, he paid more attention that day. Does that mean he became a math genius? No. He still struggled throughout the year. But I was able to capture his attention, and we continued to go on to have several more conversations about Stranger Things throughout the year.

Building relationships takes time, but it is the foundation of what we do as teachers. It goes back to that old saying that “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” 

I have seen this in my career. There have been times when I haven’t been able to build relationships with students like I should have. And it was hard. Since then, taking the time to foster those relationships with students has been critical to me. Obviously, these are not the only ways to build relationships with students. These are just some ideas that I love to use in my classroom. 

What are some ways that you build relationships with your students? Leave a comment below.

Happy teaching!