Book Club for Kids: 3 Benefits for Your Child
Why do I think your child needs to join a book club for kids? It’s no secret that I love reading and it’s my mission to spread a love of reading in your home. Running a virtual book club for kids is the best thing that came out of this crazy past year for me! If you want to enroll your child in a book club, click here.
Virtual Book Club Benefits:
- Connections with other kids
- Improve reading skills
- Motivation to finish books and have FUN with reading
Not only have these second and third graders improved their reading skills over the past year, they have also built genuine connections with kids they may not normally interact with. The fact that I make it fun and interactive also helps motivate reading! Each month, I try to pick a book that lends itself to a great new series or recommend similar books that book club members can pick up on their own.
Wondering what books your child could, or should, be reading? Click here to identify what type of reader your child is and grab a great book list specific to your reader’s needs!
1. Genuine Connections
My book clubs for kids are capped at 6 kids for each section. This allows adequate talking time for everyone. It also helps us make genuine connections throughout the month!
The book clubs are based on reading level. Currently, there are second grade, third grade, and fourth grade book club options. However, I have first graders and third graders in the second grade group, second graders in the third grade group, and well, you get the idea!
We never really discuss what grade they are in; we are simply discussing books. This leads to great conversations and connections with kids they may normally have never been in the same class with!
I always plan a connection activity for the start of our book club time. This is a quick 2-5 minute warm-up. It usually gets us moving or giving quick opinions so we are ready to chat about the book!
Honestly, I had to move the “How was your week?” question to the end of our time together because our quick 2-5 minute warm-up was turning into catching up for twenty minutes and we started to run out of time to talk about the book! Now, those that need to hop off for sports at the end of the 30 minutes can, and the rest of us chat and catch up a bit from the past week.
To register your child for my next book club, click here!
2. Improve Reading Skills in a Book Club
As a certified reading specialist, I know exactly what kids need to move up to the next reading level. I pick each book intentionally with specific skills I want to focus on for the month. Most moms are impressed with how their child’s comprehension improves with book club.
For second graders, maybe we are focusing on dialogue for the week. In the third grade group, I spend time on character traits. In fourth grade, we picked challenging vocabulary words and talked about some of the underlying themes of the book. Each printable is used to guide our conversations for the week.
The first week of every new book, I spend a lot of time previewing the book. I read aloud to them and we discuss and make predictions using text evidence about what we think the book may be about. To read more about the importance of reading aloud to your kids, click here.
3. Motivate your Reader with a Book Club for Kids
Have you ever participated in a book club for adults? I know through my adult book club picks, I have definitely gone outside of my normal book choices to read different books! The same is true for kids! Register your child here for next month’s book club!
“Knowing my boys read and finish one book a month is a HUGE blessing.”
~Mom of a Book Clubber
There are plenty of reasons why your child will finish a book for a book club over a book they may have picked out on their own. It’s most likely on their reading level. They will want to contribute to the conversation and know they have until book club time to finish that section of the book. They WANT to talk about it with their friends; it is the best kind of peer pressure!
There is current reading research that claims if a child is not reading on grade level by third grade, it is extremely difficult to catch them up. I chose to focus on second, third, and fourth grade readers to help motivate that love of reading and to ensure their reading skills are ready for more difficult books! Click here to register your child for my next Adventures with Books book club!
What books do you hope we read next in my virtual book club for kids? Leave a comment and let me know!