Purdue's "R-Dub" Club

Since 2005, my class has been a participant in the Purdue University Calumet's "R-Dub" Club (Reading and Writing...as in "dub-ya"! Get it??). We are one of three classes in the entire district to participate and the only class to have participated since the first year! Every spring, athletes from the men and women's basketball teams visit our classroom once a month to introduce a new chapter book. They read a few chapters out loud together and then discuss what was read. Finally, the students have the opportunity to interview the athletes to learn more about them. The students make notes from the interview in their writing journals. After the visit, we spend a couple days in writer's workshop, putting together articles about the athletes. We make the articles into a book and present it to them at the next visit. In January, the featured book was The Mouse and the Motorcycle. In February, it was Frindle. The last two books in March and April will be Stone Fox and Dear Mr. Henshaw. As participants in the program, the students and their families also get to be guests at a home basketball game in the late winter. Here are some photos from a recent visit:

Athletes from the women's basketball team read from the new chapter book as the students follow along in their copies.

The first book we created and presented to the team in February.

Our next visit on March 22nd and we can't wait! We enjoy being a part of this program every year and look forward to many more years in this partnership!