Lego and Read

It was time for the bi-annual read-a-thon at my elementary school designed by My Librarian and I.  It is 2 weeks during which we push reading time and checking out books with the energy and enthusiasm equal that of a girl scout cookie sales girl high on Thin Mints.  We were trying to do something ‘simple’.  Recording reading minutes for 20 classrooms, for two weeks is not simple…effective, yes, simple…sort of…exhausting…yep!My Librarian and I had both seen a post where a library handed out a Lego for each book checked out of the library.  We loved the idea and wanted to emulate/copy/steal/plagiarise it.  With Team Offspring’s 20 galleon tote of Lego’s, we were set and read to roll.  Every single book checker-outer added a Lego to our Library Lego Land.  One teacher intentionally checked out a new book for his class, because as he said, “I want to add a Lego.”  (His class loves the book he is now reading to them!  Library WIN!)

Paper Legos were awarded for each 100 minutes a class group read which they could then add to their class ‘wall’.We went through 8 glue sticks, as we learned that part of the reward was letting the kids put on their paper Lego’s for their class.Any class that had 100% participation for reading at home earned a Lego Person.It was a great success…and the Lego Library Land??? It became something of a disaster.  The kids were VERY excited to  add their Legos, however, they were not so excited when they found that other people put Legos on ‘their’ tower, causing it to collapse.  Clearly, they lacked finesse and by the end of week two….it was a colossal mess.  Apparently, they did not see ‘my vision’ of team work, artistry and engineering….they did score on earthquake and mayhem.The class the reads the most, what do they ‘get’?  (I am beginning to believe that ‘getting’ is not always needed.)  The winning class ‘gets’ to spend $100 of the Library’s money to buy different Lego packages for the Library to have in the….Library!  Woo and Hoo!!

The power of the paper Lego…it worked, it really did.  One first grade class walked by their ‘wall’ looked at their paper Legos and said,

“We need to read more!!!”

…and we are blessed.