2X2 |
The 2X2 Booklist Hits the Spot!by Donna Cook In April, 2000, the Children’s Round Table issued the first 2X2 book list. This is the third year of the program, so there are three lists now. Each list consists of twenty titles that the committee has chosen to be superb literature for reading aloud to children ages 2 to grade 2–hence the name 2X2. The lists are available at www.txla.org . This list puts into librarians’ hands a wonderful tool that can do so many things for librarians, students, parents, and schools that it should be one of the most popular tools in primary librarians’ and library coordinators’ bag of tricks. What can the list do for you? It can give you a vehicle with which you can reach out to parents from your library. It will give you a set of great titles for your consideration file. It will bring reading excitement to your students, and it will make you a hero with your principal and teachers. All that from a simple list? Yes, and more. |
| The first thing you have to do is
buy the titles on the list. You can’t go wrong there, because this
list is just like the Bluebonnet, Lone Star, and Tayshas
lists–selected by dedicated librarians like yourself that have read
and discussed hundreds of likely titles to get a list for you of the
best books.
The 2X2 list is different from those other lists, however, in that it is a list of titles meant to be read-aloud by parents to their children. So the next thing you have to do is reach the parents with this list of wonderful new books. The simplest way to do that is to meet with the PTA, display the books, and make your introduction. Compose a letter that explains the program and have a place for the parents to make a commitment to read these books aloud to their child. Start taking commitments at the meeting, but be sure that the letter goes home with every eligible child so that as many parents as possible will be in the program. Several good things are already happening, if this is as far as you can get with the 2X2 books. You are encouraging reading aloud. You are putting your library program in front of the PTA. You are reaching out to parents of primary students in a new way. You have added a great set of books to your collection. You have probably also talked to the principal and learned he or she is thrilled that you are taking a new initiative in involving parents and encouraging reading. As for the administration of the program, it is simply a matter of getting the books into the parents’ hands so that they can read to their children. You’ll want to make the 2X2 book special, and sending it home in a bag can do that. Hefty Jumbo, 2.5-gallon bags work just fine. They are clear, so you can scan the book through the bag. You can decorate the bag a little, if you want. Or you can buy book bags from library supply vendors that are very attractive. Slip the book in a bag, have each student a checklist or roster so that the parent can sign that she or he read the book, slip the roster into a page protector and into the bag, and take it to the student or put it in the teacher’s mailbox. When you get the book back, take the roster out of the bag, and put it in the back of your notebook full of rosters, pull the roster off the front of your notebook full of rosters , and send the book out to the next parent eager to read it aloud to her child. This is basically how the program goes at my school. It was very nice to have parents stopping me on the street and the halls of school, thanking me for providing these books. "Children learn to read on the laps of their parents" is a quotation from Emily Buckwald that summarizes the reason this program is so effective. For added reading and public relations dividends, a 2X2 list of books lends itself beautifully to reading extension activities. When I read the books I cannot resist making parent-child activities for the parents to do with their child. These activities have to require no preparation by the parents, other than reading the book with their child, and no equipment or materials. I want the activity to encourage verbalization, imagination, and reading/math skills. Then Jean Drake, a librarian colleague, does a little computer magic, composes the activities into 3X5 test boxes, adds the 2X2 logo, and prints them out on Avery 8.5X11 label stock. We cut the activity cards apart, peel off the backing and stick each onto the front endpages of its appropriate title. The activity bookplates will stay in those books, encouraging reading activities for years. Since our schools have a large Hispanic population we decided to do the cards also in Spanish. We are putting a Spanish and an English activity card, side-by-side, in each book. The natural question was, "If the parents can’t read English well enough to read the activity card in English, then why are they in the program anyway?" That is a valid question, but we want to give parents every opportunity to help their children. Maybe they won’t be able to read the whole book in English; maybe together with their child they will have to "read" the pictures. There are so many different levels of English fluency in our Hispanic families that it is best to let them do whatever they can. By putting a Spanish version in the inside front cover of each book, at the least we are letting the parents know we value their efforts. These parent-child activity cards will enhance the 2X2 program in so many ways. Of course they will encourage parents talking to their child and getting their child to verbalize. They will also reinforce reading and math concepts. But, maybe even more importantly, they will encourage parents to be our partners in teaching. Parents will open the special book that came home in a special bag and see a special card in the front cover that trumpets, "Parent-Child Activity." We hope they will think that we expect and applaud their efforts in our combined efforts to teach reading. Also those parent-child activity cards will be evidence of the teaching aspect of the librarian’s job. In very small print under the title, we put a line that says "suggested by your school librarian." After all we are teachers, and people sometimes need to reminded of it. Mary Lankford emphasizes that the 2X2 list is not intended to be a list of testable titles or a source of competition in any way. The list is created as a way to bring parents and children together in the reading experience. The quantity the students and parents read together is not as important as the quality of the experience. To culminate the yearly project, I suggest you send a year-end letter home expressing your hope they have enjoyed the year. Then ask the parent to discuss the books with their child and together choose their favorite. Send in or call in their favorite title. What will you do with their choices? It really does not matter. What matters is the parent and child get one last experience together to talk about and evaluate literature. However, you could send a letter to the author of the school’s favorite, telling him or her how their book succeeded at your school. You could put some or all of the books that got a votes on the 2X2 list again next year–kind of a 2X2 Honor Roll–circulate them along with next year’s list and see if any books get favorite votes in consecutive years. And, of course, you can make cute certificates to give or send out so that parents can have something tangible to remind them of this special time provided by you, the school librarian, and the 2X2 list. In summary, the 2X2 book list is a gold mine for the primary school librarian. Get the list, get the books, get the books to the parents, and then smile graciously as your principal notes your efforts, the parents thank you for the opportunities you’ve given them, and the children tell you which book they really liked the best. |
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