Reading Awareness Month is underway, which has undoubtedly provided opportunities to add excitement to your class routine. Although it’s been a minute or two since I was there, this writing brought back great reading related memories from school and home, as both parents were teachers and my mother is a 36-year veteran of elementary teaching.
With that thought in mind, it made perfect sense to me to solicit my mother’s help (along with that of Sandy Kemsley, abcteach founder) on how to make the most of Reading Awareness Month. Below are some great ideas they used to encourage a love of reading in their students.
- • Alternative book reporting – provide options and let the kids take the lead in how they want to report on a book: present to the class, puppet show, written report, posters, advertisements, etc.
- • Book Buddies – where older students team up with younger ones. The younger “author” tells his/her story and the older student writes it down. They then create a book together, written out by the elder with illustrations by the budding author.
- • Book Graphs – charting the number of books read by each student. The appropriate difficulty level was maintained through student/teacher conferences.
- • Dress up as your favorite character day.
- • Literary Log – daily journal writing of the students’ reading. Small conferences were set up to discuss their progress.
- • Literary Luncheon – students can opt to participate in an after school reading project that concludes with parent-led luncheons at school. Parental reading guides are provided, which help parents discuss story elements (i.e. characterization, organization, voice, etc.) with small groups of students. Food, drinks–even table cloths and candles–were used to keep kids engaged.
- • School wide author study (i.e. Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, E.B. White, etc.)
- • Weekly book share – Students get in groups and talk about a book they’re reading. They share about their favorite section, talk about the characters, plot, etc.
Here are additional ideas from our latest Facebook “Classroom Conversation:”What are favorite books/activities to do with your class to encourage a love of reading?
“I read books using different voices for every character and before I read, I tell the students how much I like it or why the pictures make me like it. It helps my kindergartners choose books that they will like!” Cheryl Shuster
“I challenge them to read 25 books from all the different genres and then when they have, I give out a coupon for a free slushie.” Donna Liska-Johnson
“I just read Matilda to my third graders and they loved it!” Whitney Franquist
As you’re wrapping up the month’s activities, abcteach can bring these examples to life and give great ideas for new ones. Check out our Reading Comprehension section (Free | Member) along with the additional category links at the bottom of this blog.
We wish you all the best with your lesson plans and would love to hear how you celebrated this great month!
Posted by Lindsey Elton, abcteach team
Below find a great sampling of abcteach materials. For unlimited access to our full supply, abctools, and more, learn about an abcteach membership!
Reading (Free | Members)
Learning Centers (Free | Members)
Book Reports (Free | Members)