After a busy morning, Mr. Hulsey’s third graders are ready for lunch, squirming as they stand in line at their classroom door. Mr. Hulsey raises his hand, the agreed-upon class signal for attention. When everyone’s quiet and looking at him, he speaks: “Our rules say we’ll take care of each other and our environment. How will that look and sound in the lunchroom today?”

Students’ hands shoot up and the answers come readily: Speak in six-inch voices. Say “Thank you.” Remember to empty your tray. If you spill, clean it up.

Step out of your teacher shoes for a moment and imagine yourself as the parent of a child you teach. You're at home, and the phone rings. You pick it up and a voice says, "Hello. This is Ms. Norris, Emily's teacher." If you're like many parents, two words spring immediately to mind: "Uh oh."

“My teacher’s coming, my teacher’s coming,” squeals a gleeful six-year-old as he catches his first glimpse of his teacher as she steps out of her car and walks to his front door. His eight-year-old sister was equally excited a half hour earlier as she sat on the front steps, nervously and eagerly awaiting the arrival of her third grade teacher.

When I was a second grader, my teacher would take us outside on mild afternoons to relax with whatever book we chose. We’d munch snacks and chat as we read together. Those lovely times celebrating books and ideas are cherished memories and something I wanted my own students to experience. How, I wondered, could I bring some of the joy of reading for pleasure into the jam-packed school lives of my second graders? I found a way to do it by creating a weekly classroom tradition: book club lunches.