Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog, its too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Not long ago, a friend who uses my same curriculum sent this website to me via email. I thought the idea was a great one, although we have not used it due to lack of space. Our walls are not our own and we are very packed in our tiny, temporary apartment for the moment; however, I just love this idea and wanted to share it with you.
The great idea is to use RAIN GUTTERS as display cases on your walls (in your school room/childs room/reading nook/library/office) to create a reading area for the children (especially preschool and elementary kids)!
How many times have you been at the supermarket and got caught by all the items at eye level? Lets face it, covers sell books! The effects of good cover art are just as easily overpowering for kids. Left alone in a room with a lot of books facing them, a child will naturally find the books irresistible. I have often found that my children and I gravitate towards the library books on the TOPS of the shelves that are standing up in plain view. We hardly ever make it out of the library without one or two of them. According to the research on the Rain Gutter Literacy Revolution website, cover art and illustrations were the two top factors in childrens book selection. Rain gutters provide an easy and cheap way to give our kids more visual stimulation and invitation to read good books.
I can remember being in elementary school and really enjoying the reading areas set up by certain teachers where they provided a sanctuary from the classroom and lots of books on a visual shelf for the students to pick from. If I had my own space, I would certainly be using rain gutters to display our books. I hope you will click over on the link above and see the websites visual photos of the rain gutters. What a GREAT idea!
Enjoy your reading!
Related Tags: Groucho Marx, rain gutters, reading, read, literacy, books, library, reading nook, book shelves, school room, covers, visual
