Promoting the Texas Bluebonnet Awards Centeno Style

Summary

Rodolfo Centeno Elementary School, self-appointed district leaders in endorsing the Texas Bluebonnet Awards, strives to promote the Texas Bluebonnet nominees to both faculty and students and to increase their interaction with great literature. As part of this effort, Centeno Elementary has proposed several special projects for the purpose of promoting and celebrating this state initiative and increase learning experiences. Both students and teachers will have opportunities to not only respond to the literature in both blog and wiki format but will also participate in redesigned versions of "Are You Smarter than a Bluebonnet Reader" and "The Battle of the Bluebonnet Books" competition, culminating in a "Texas Bluebonnet Reading Relay". Included in this proposal is the plan for all projects.

Introduction 

Needs Assessment

Objectives

1. Collaborate with instruction staff to integrate library resources/services into reading activities
2. Instruct students in the use of electronic resources
3. Differentiate instructional strategies according to multiple learning styles
4. Work collaboratively and individually to provide reading programs throughout the year
5. Address issues and needs of staff and students through curriculum integration of technology and information literacy for students and staff.
6. Inspire a love of reading by introducing students to literary forms such as stories, poems, and information books through practices such as individual dialogue and reading motivation programs.

Methods and Procedures for...

“Are You Smarter than a Bluebonnet Reader”- Faculty Competition:

Two faculty teams captains volunteer and team assignments are made from a random drawing of all names of participating teachers. Between the months of September through April, members of each team are displayed on a bulletin board along with the books that they have read to their class. Faculty team captains are responsible for making sure that all Bluebonnet nominees have been read to the students by at least one member from their team.  During the month of May, prior to the “Battle of the Bluebonnet Books” between students, the two Faculty teams compete against each other.

Process for “Are You Smarter than a Bluebonnet Reader”- Faculty Competition

1.      Teams will flip a coin to see who goes first. That team will be given first chance to respond to randomly drawn questions.

2.      A guest “game show” host will read each question and the librarian will act as …???

3.      The team shall have 30 seconds after the reading of the question to give its response through the team Captain. Only the answer from the Captain will heard and recorded. Teams are encouraged to confer before giving a response. Only the first answer the Captain gives will be acceptable--the team cannot use up the time left to make other guesses.

4.      If the answer is correct, the team is awarded 5 points.

5.      If a team gives an incorrect answer, the opposing team may pick up points if they can answer the question. The question will be repeated to the opposing team, which will then have 10 seconds in which to come up with their answer. NOTE: If the opposing team does not answer correctly, play does NOT pass back to the other team.

6.      If a team has begun its response before time is called, it will be allowed to complete it.

After 24 questions have been asked, the “game show” host will announce the final score and a winner will be declared. The winning faculty team will be sent on to the next round against a student team comprised of randomly selected students from both student teams. Both contests may take place on the same day.

Process for "Battle of the Texas Bluebonnet Books" - Student Competition

The compettion will be run following the same procedures as the "Are You Smarter than a Bluebonnet Reader".

Answers for Both Competitions:

If there are challenges to a question, an answer is considered correct as long as the librarian can discern it.

Although both contests may take place on the same day, thesudent "Battle of the Bluebonnet Books" game should be coordinated separately.

Awards:

Following the competition, an awards assembly will be held. At the assemblypresent the awards to the winning teams. Awards for the winning faculty team consist of bragging rights. Awards to the winning student team will be trophies. Certificates for participation will be awarded during End-of the-Year ceremonies.Thank all the merchants who helped and made donations for students. Honor teachers and administration for their support and participation.

Timeline

• Kickoff: September – Teachers are randomly selected for the “Are you Smarter than a Bluebonnet Reader” teams. Wiki and Blog are introduced to both students an teachers.
• September – January -Teachers are reading books from the list to the students. Questions for the games are generated through the months prior to the games.
• September- April - Wiki and blog are being promoted through the library to promote student and faculty responses to literature.
• January-April – Students between 3^rd-5^th who are participating in reading the books with their teachers, vie for spots on the two teams for the “Battle of the Bluebonnet “books (eight students per team including the team captain).
• Celebration: May "Texas Bluebonnet Reading Relay" and – Let the games begin!

Budget

1. The biggest initial expense is the books. The school often has funds to purchase 1 set of the Texas Bluebonnet Books from the library budget. Additional copies are purchased using the rewards from the Scholastic book fair. Copies are placed on reserve for teacher checkout.

2. Teachers who participated the prior year are gifted with one hardcover book from this year’s list. (e.g. last year teachers were gifted with a copy of Hugo Cabret). Teachers are also encouraged to purchase the paperbacks from the book fair the year prior.

3. “Battle of the Bluebonnet Books” T-shirts for each student could be paid for with outside help.

Tasks/Milestones

• Blog Setup (Librarian)
• Wiki Setup(Librarian) 
• Press Release  (Librarian)
• Plan Party (????)

Conclusion

References