West Woods Elementary PTSA

Junior Great Books Book Club

West Woods Elementary is offering a Junior Great Books (JGB) book club for 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grades, as an extra-curricular activity.  Registration is open now!  Please use the form below or the registration form that went home with your student on recently.  The clubs for each grade will meet once a week, for eight weeks, during the student’s 40-minute lunch and recess from October through December (actual start date depends on when the shipment of books arrives, the goal is early October).  The students are responsible for reading the story before the book club session.  Students eat lunch (either hot or cold) while a volunteer leader reviews the selected stories and then facilitates a discussion about the book.

The emphasis of this book club is on comprehension, critical thinking and interpretive discussion skills, which optimize life-long learning and performance in other areas of school.  The program is designed for ALL reading levels, and the JGB material is great reading log material as well.

The program costs $25 per child to cover the cost of the book with shipping/handling and the JGB completion celebration.  Please note that Junior Great Books has updated the editions in every grade level, so please do not plan to use an older sibling’s book.  Each student will need his/her own book so that they can write in it and take notes.

Children will be giving up a day of recess, so their interest is very important.  Also, this program works solely on volunteers, so participation of parent volunteers is absolutely necessary.

Parent volunteers lead each session.  We will need one or two parent volunteers per group to lead the book club discussion for 8 weeks.  Please indicate on the form below if you are willing to take on this volunteer position.  Please keep in mind that if we do not have anyone volunteering to lead discussion groups, we will not be able to offer JGB clubs for the children.  No previous teaching experience is necessary.

If your child would like to participate, please complete the form below. You may pay online or you may deliver a a check for $25 made out to West Woods Elementary PTSA to the school office by Tuesday, September 22^nd.  I will communicate primarily via email, so please ensure that your address is clearly listed below.  If you have questions, please contact Martina Bjorhus at 720-898-1519 or drmbjo@yahoo.com.  For more information about Junior Great Books, go to www.greatbooks.org.