Connect 4 Championship in the Library!

During the last week of term we hosted a Connect 4 Championship. We have puzzles and games available at lunchtimes, and I had noticed how popular our Connect 4 was. Students had to sign up in advance, and there were certificates for every contestant (getting bigger the further they got!).

It was the first competition we ran without an actual prize, and we were astounded with its success. We had many students wanting to sign up on the day, and they were all good sportman about it all.

I have since bought more Connect 4s for use at lunchtime. I think it is popular as it is quick, requires next to no skill to take part (although can use skill to win more!) and is quick to set up and clear away.

Baby steps to creating a reading community

Now that the library is more or less 'set-up' and stable, I am working on ideas to allow the bug of reading to spread (if only it spread as easily as a cold!).

To create a shared reading experience I wanted to try and get tutors reading aloud during form time. Ideally I would aim for them to be all reading the same book. The first stumbling block was to consider which text. We have vertical form groups, which means that each form has students from each year (from year 7 to 6th form). The book needs to use language that is easy enough to allow year 7s access, but a theme/plot that is interesting enough to grab the 6th formers.

I chose 'Once' by Morris Gleitzman, which is a book I read this year and adored. The language is accurately childlike, but follows the tragic story of a Jewish child during WWII.

I emailed staff, asking for volunteers who were feeling brave enough to trial reading aloud. I was surprised by the response. I had expected a couple, but actually got 11 at last count. I didn't have enough copies, I had about 6, so the other teachers have had other texts. I did use Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo for some, and other teachers had a request for a theme (one philosophy teacher wanted a philosophy text to read during class).

I hope that it is a success (we haven't really started yet due to the snow!), and can hopefully look to roll it out with other staff later.