Kentucky Bluegrass Award 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 the chair of the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards, Kathy Watson.

Master List Promotion Materials

The items listed below can be used to promote the Kentucky Bluegrass Award Master Lists and encourage students and teachers to participate in the program.

Book Summary Powerpoints for 2013 KBA Master Lists

Videos for 2013 KBA Master Lists

Book Summary Powerpoints for 2012 KBA Master Lists

Prezi for 9-12 2012 KBA Master List

Video for K-2 2012 KBA Master List

Ideas for Promoting the Program

Teaching Guides and Ideas

These teaching guides and ideas have been created for use with current and former Kentucky Bluegrass Award Master List titles.

2012 Master List Books

2011 Master List Books

2010 Master List Books

Reading Encouragement

Katie Allen, Library Media Specialist at James T. Alton Middle School, has a great idea for connecting the Kentucky Bluegrass Award books with summer reading programs: With the new Kentucky Bluegrass Awards list out I am wrapping the program around that. I am having the local Public Library come in during lunch to promote their Summer Reading program. Then I will be passing out the KBA list for each student to take home. I'm thinking of making this like a half sheet of paper... much like a large bookmark on brightly colored paper. The teachers are sponsoring a book off that list (the 6-8 list), that they will read over the summer. When we get back to school in the first two weeks we will have a book discussion in the library before school starts... me providing doughnuts. Then each 6 weeks after that the students can sign up for a new book to read, thus moving to a new teacher. The teacher will just do the same discussion each time. This way the students will read more than two of the KBA books and can then vote in the statewide casting of ballots for their favorite books... pulling in a small amount of civics.

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

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.