Newport News building character with book club
Program aims to help develop interpersonal skills, a task made difficult by the pandemic
Breathe in through your nose, as though smelling a flower. Breathe out through your mouth, blowing out the bad of the day like you’d blow out a candle.
That’s just one of the tips Newport News Public Schools is using to help its youngest students learn to calm themselves when they’re feeling overwhelmed.
It’s offered through a new book club for students in earlier grades. But this isn’t your ordinary book club. Crafted by local educators and school psychologists, the program aims to not only improve student literacy but to teach kids how to handle their emotions and interact with others through a series of tips and activities.
The program is called the Building Character Book Club, and it’s for students in kindergarten through the second grade. The idea stems from the loss of learning that students had when schools shifted to virtual learning during the pandemic — from reading to their social and emotional skills, said Nathalie Rose, an elementary instructional specialist for literacy.
Some of the youngest students never learned how to cooperate with others, make friends, share or cope with frustration, Rose said.
“They’re things we’ve kind of taken for granted that kids just kind of incidentally learned from being with others their age in the classroom,” Rose said. “Those opportunities were taken away from them, so we’re just trying to provide them with more opportunities because we’ve seen a need in our classrooms.”
Rose worked with Scholastic, a publishing company, to select books for students in kindergarten, first and second grades. The books are different for each grade level but focus on a central theme such as conflict management, self-regulation and coping with frustration.
The books are sent home will all students for free. The program is funded through coronavirus relief funds.
The first book was sent home with students in March. Books will be sent home monthly through the end of the school year. Students in the selected grade levels will repeat the program with new books next school year.
In addition to the monthly book, families receive online resources in English and Spanish with activities that will improve literacy such as word games or storytelling. Social and emotional activities for self-regulating behavior ranged from breathing exercises to guided conversations about feelings.
The activities are broken into categories based on how they can
be done throughout the day — in the morning, in the car, at mealtimes and at night.
“We really wanted to focus on things that were as little disruption as possible, so things that they could do without any sort of materials and things that they could do throughout the normal rhythms of the day,” Rose said.
So, why a book club? “One of the best ways for kids to learn how to be good citizens — how do people act, what do people do — is through read-alouds and literature,” Rose said.
It’s about exposing students to characters they may be able to relate to and inspiring them to solve problems and manage feelings in a healthy way.
Each teacher has a copy of the books that are sent home with students, but Rose said the school district opted for an at-home program to make sure the lessons children learn at school are being reinforced at home.
“Students have the best success when they’re getting the same message at school and at home,” Rose said.