Related Resources
The ideas listed here are provided as suggestions for promoting the Kentucky Bluegrass Award in your school or library. Many of the ideas can be found on the web site for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. This is a children's choice award program very similar to the Kentucky Bluegrass Award. We thank the good people of the Texas Bluebonnet Award for sharing their ideas and allowing us to share them with you.
If you would like to share some of the things you do in promoting the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, please send an email to Carrie Cooper at carrie.cooper@eku.edu.
Reading Encouragement
Janet Powers of Stuart Pepper Middle School writes a booktalk for each of the books on the 6-8 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Master List. She attaches each booktalk to its book as she finds that the students enjoy reading these more than the blurbs found on the book covers. Janet is willing to share her booktalks with you. If you would like a copy, send her an email request at jpowers@meade.k12.ky.us.
Bluegrass Lunch Bunch. A schedule is posted early in the year with dates, times and the book title that will be discussed. Any student who has read that week's book is invited to bring his or her lunch to the library and participate in the Bluegrass discussion.
Bluegrass Battle of the Books. Throughout the year, as students read the Bluegrass books, they are encouraged to make up questions about the story. They place these in a box located in the library. Right before voting, each class has one or more teams that compete in the Battle of the Bluegrass Books using the questions submitted.
Bluegrass Door Decor. Just before voting, each class selects a book from the Master List and decorates the classroom door. Have each class register for their selected title to avoid duplication.
Bluegrass Reading Club. Create a Bluegrass Readers' Club wall by laminating the book covers from each book, placing these covers on a large empty wall (maybe a hall wall) and create lists under each for students who have read the books to sign. Students love to compare the books they have read and teachers have a quick reference, too.
Bluegrass and Book Fairs. Create Bluegrass Bucks that students receive when they read a title from the current year's Master List. A buck is received for each book that is read independently. They do not get a buck for a title that is read by a teacher to an entire group. They must individually reread it, get their bucks signed by a parent and write a short paragraph about their favorite part or character. The library staff member then stamps the bucks and the children save them until the book fair where they can spend their accumulated bucks for books. This activity has generated interest in the Kentucky Bluegrass Award program, and profits from the book fair cover the cost of the chosen books.
Bluegrass Jeopardy. Create a Kentucky Bluegrass Award Jeopardy Game. Questions are created for each book and based on themes such as main idea, character development, fact and opinion. Point values are assigned based on the difficulty level of each question. Students select a question and respond in Jeopardy style.
Bluegrass Artifact Matching Game. Use clip art to make transparencies of several items found in each book. Students must identify the book in which the item is found and explain the connection.
Voting
Kay Hensley at Lincoln County High School reports that she creates a bookmark ballot. The bookmark ballot is given out with each Kentucky Bluegrass Award book checked out of the library. This encourages the students to repsond to the book as soon as they have finished reading it.
Linlee Elementary's Lisa Spaulding shares that this is her first year to take part in the Kentucky Bluegrass Award. In her words, "I was able to create an online voting form for the K-2 students and it worked really well. I would highlight the book we read in library and then the K-2 classes would submit their vote online. The results were sent to a database that I maintained."
Janet Powers of Stuart Pepper Middle School makes it a habit to place several ballot boxes around the school. She places one in the library and the various rooms used for reading and language arts classes. This serves as a constant reminder to students to read and vote for a Kentucky Bluegrass Award book.
Teacher Involvement
Bluegrass Tea. Invite the teachers to a tea in the library after school to introduce the new Master Lists when the books arrive. Refreshments are always welcome in the afternoon. Provide extra sweetness to the gathering by providing a book display and information about the new Master List titles.
Bluegrass Read-Aloud Reward. Encourage teachers to read the Bluegrass books aloud by entering their names in a drawing each time they complete a book. A few suggestions for rewards are a free book at the book fair, arrangements to take care of the class while the teacher goes out to lunch, or a goodie bag of freebies obtained at various conferences.
updated: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 15:55:22 EDT