School is nearly over for the year which means, ack! Summer is almost here…and with it comes the dreaded Summer Slide. I’ve racked my brain trying to come up with something to keep our son motivated to read over the summer. He’ll take part in our library’s Summer Reading Program, of course, but he needs a little more motivation to keep him reading for the entire summer.
This year I’m introducing the Elf on the Shelf’s buddy, the Poem Gnome. It turns out, the Elf on the Shelf (ours was named Elf-vis) hangs out with other fantastical beings like gnomes. Our Poem Gnome will arrive at the start of summer vacation and pop up throughout the summer. Weekly or perhaps, bi-weekly, the gnome will appear in new places outside our house with a message written in a poem.
My goal is to use the gnome to encourage reading, add more poetry to our lives, and promote the “field trip” mentality.
How I am preparing for the Poem Gnome:
- Bought a small garden gnome at Hobby Lobby.
- Bought a glass tube with a cork stopper to hold messages from the gnome. I tied a little ribbon on both ends so the gnome can wear it across his back when delivering messages.
- Preparing a template for the gnome’s messages.
- Scouting out locations and looking for silly things for our gnome to do.
- Creating reading goals and challenges.
- Writing the Poem Gnome’s arrival letter.
Join us in using the Poem Gnome, if you’d like. I’ll share the template and arrival letter when they are ready and I’ll post our gnome antics all summer long. Happy Reading!
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