Quick Talk, Book Recs

Just a quick post about a way to share books in your classroom. I have been reading "The Book Whisperer" and wanted to find a way for my kiddos to share book recommendations with one another. I have tried bulletin boards with the recommendations... but that never seems to get far. It is more of a requirement than an actual tool they used. I wanted them talking about their books and sharing titles.

I just opened it up to my class for ideas on how we could do this. By combining a few ideas, this is what we came up with:

Quick Talk, Book Recs

A "Quick Talk, Book Rec" is simply a fast-paced book chat. Students wander around the room while I play some music. When the music stops, they find a friend near them to partner up with. Once partnered, they share what book they are currently reading, (I make my students carry the book with them) tell a little bit about the book, and why or why not they would recommend it to someone else. The other person in the partnership then does the same. I give them 45-60 seconds to do this. When I start the music again, they meander around the room again and start all over. We do this 3-4 times each session. I try to do it every few days... but it just depends on time. The kids love it, and hopefully they are picking up on some new books to read!