Trekking through the wilds of library instruction, management, and fun!

Nov 10, 2015

Bookebrations

One of the most enjoyable, cheap and easy things I've used as a reading incentive is a bookebration. As the name may suggest, this is a party to celebrate students' reading accomplishments. I took the idea from a presenter at our SCASL conference many years ago and have hosted quarterly bookebrations ever since. Each quarter, students who meet their individualized A.R. points goal while maintaining an "average % correct" of 85 or higher are invited to attend.

What began as make-and-take craft and game parties evolved into dance parties using the Wii and Just Dance games. I would move the tables and chairs out of the way, project the dance videos, bring in everyone who was invited, turn off the lights, close the library and DAAAAANCE for 45 minutes. I usually had about 150 -300 qualifying students, so I had to host multiple bookebrations during the week.

Last year was my first year as a middle school librarian, and I considered it a "honeymoon period." I left as much as possible in place, as I was following in the footsteps of an excellent predecessor! So, I held off introducing the A.R. program I'd been running at my former school. It had been successful there for years, but I wasn't sure it would transfer well from an elementary school to a middle school. I missed it terribly though, and this year I couldn't resist! So here I am on the eve of my first middle school bookebration, anxious about how it will be received and eager to compare their experience to my elementary students' experience.

At the middle school level, the students seem to be a bit snobbish about...well, everything...including what they'll dance to. So instead of using Just Dance this time, I've decided to create a playlist based on their requests. Included are some tutorial videos so that all of us have a chance to learn the steps. I also added a few wild cards. I tried really hard to find "clean" videos without adult language and that would be fall in line with our dress code. Enjoy!


Warm Up (LOL)
Watch Me (Silento's Tutorial)
Watch Me (Group)
Watch Me (Dance)
Hit the Quan (Dance & Step by Step)
Wobble (Tutorial)
Gobble (Dance)
Dlow Shuffle (Steps & Dance)
Cupid Shuffle (Tutorial)
Cupid Shuffle (Dance)
Sid Shuffle (Dance & Tutorial)
Happy (Tutorial)
Happy (Dance)