Drop Everything and Read!
In celebration of National School Library Day over 7,747 Kamloops/Thompson students and staff participated in Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R)! Whether in the gymnasium, a science lab or the school library, on October 24th at 11:00 many students and staff dropped everything and read something of choice for 20 minutes. SD73 teacher-librarians coordinated a variety of events leading up to the day including pajama day, decorate your door for DEAR, group and buddy reading activities, communicating with authors and reading challenges. Students read a variety of choice material including: magazines, nonfiction materials, picture books, stories on e-readers, comics, webpages, articles on ipads and print newspapers.
D.E.A.R began in 2007 when Surrey teacher-librarian Bonnie Chapman shared a literacy promotion idea at a professional learning conference. She along with her colleagues recognized the importance of promoting pleasure reading. Research showed (and continues to show) a strong correlation between reading and achievement. In 2008 a number of teacher-librarians across the province including Karen Lindsay and Al Smith began preparations for launching a
province-wide literacy promotion event. Last year over 48,000 students, 16,000 staff and hundreds of schools participated in DEAR in British Columbia and it continues to grow. Check out Nelson, BC’s Jeff Yasinchuk’s blog to learn more about DEAR: http://dropeverythingandreadbc.ca/
