One School, One Book at Great Falls!

Great Falls Elementary

One School, One Book

It is time for Great Falls Elementary’s 1st One School, One Book project! This means that all classrooms will be reading roughly the same book throughout the month of January and into February. The reason that we decided to do this project at Great Falls is because “the benefits of reading aloud are remarkable—studies have shown that reading to children helps them to listen better and longer, build bigger vocabularies, understand concepts better, feel positive about books, learning and more! When an entire school reads the same book, the buzz and excitement around the book being read increases these benefits and there is the added joy of building community in the school family.”

This is how One School, One Book works: The book that we have chosen to read is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Grades K and 1 will be reading the nonfiction picture book version and grades 2-5 will read the chapter book. Teachers will start reading the book aloud to their classrooms when we return from the holiday break. It will take us until February vacation to finish the book. Throughout the read aloud there will be weekly trivia questions that can be answered and entered into a weekly raffle for other book related prizes. There will also be a One School, One Book blog set up for grades 3-5 to post to once we begin the read aloud in January (greatfallsosob.blogspot.com).  There will also be a chance for students to create their own artwork related to the book. Some of the students’ artwork will displayed in the showcase located between the cafeteria and the gym. I encourage parents and family members to talk to your child about the book, or better yet, get your own copy and read it with him/her (The Bookworm on Main Street will be offering the book at a discounted price!)!

Happy Reading!