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25
Ideas to Motivate Young Readers! The
folks at the BOOK-IT!® Program have given permission for Education World to
reprint 25 great ideas from teachers -- ideas that are sure to get kids across
the grades excited about reading! The
BOOK IT!® Reading Incentive Program,
sponsored by Pizza Hut, has motivated millions
of young readers over the years! That's why we're grateful to the people at
BOOK IT!® for permitting Education World to share with you 25 teacher-tested
ideas originally published in 1989. Note:
The following teacher ideas were originally published by the BOOK IT!®
National Reading Incentive Program in 1989. Education World and BOOK IT!®
recognize that some of the teachers credited with the ideas above might have
retired or changed schools or grades since 1989, but we wanted to give full
credit where credit is due! NOW,
25 IDEAS FROM 25 TERRIFIC TEACHERS
Musical
Books. Chairs
are placed back-to-back in a straight line, and the teacher places a book
under each chair. Every child then sits on a chair. The children march around
the chairs when the teacher starts the music. When the music stops the
children sit down and begin to read the book under their chair. After a few
minutes, the teacher starts the music again. After the game, the teacher puts
the books in a special box marked "Musical Books" so that the
children may later read the rest of the story. Scavenger
Hunt. Have a
"scavenger hunt" by dividing the class into teams and giving each
team a copy of the same book. Have them find the page numbers of particular
objects, events, or people in the book. Give a reward to the winning team. Name
That Book!
Explain to your students how important the cover and title are to a story.
Then read a book to your students without telling them the title or showing
them the cover. After reading the book, give the children a piece of paper to
draw what they think the cover and the title of this book should be. Finally,
display the storybook surrounded by the children's covers. Readers
for Tomorrow.
We hope to make "Readers for Tomorrow" by creating picture books,
laminating them, and giving them as gifts to newborns at the local hospital.
We will include a letter to the parents telling them the importance of reading
to their young children in order to instill a love for books early. The books
will be stories written by the students with very colorful illustrations to
catch babies' attention. Mystery
Reader. Every
year I choose two or three weeks for my "Mystery Reader" project. I
send home a secret flyer to the parents to see if they would like to come in
and read to us during story time. It can be parents, grandparents, aunts, or
uncles. They pick out their own story (usually their child's favorite) and
give me a first and second choice of dates. I then make up a schedule after
the slips are in. This usually takes a week, and then I send back another
secret note to those who responded informing them of their date. The kiddos
are surprised and love it. I take a picture of each Mystery Reader reading and
send it home with the child in a thank you note. Where
in the World?
Give each student a Story
Webs. All you
need for this game is a ball of string and a story to share. Have your
students sit in a circle on the floor. One of the students gives the beginning
sentence of a familiar story. Then the student holds onto the end of a ball of
string and rolls the ball to another student, who will give the next part of
the story in sentence form. This is repeated until the story has been told.
Soon you'll have a spider's web in your students' circle. Any story can be
used for variation, or new stories can be created with each student adding a
new idea! Two
Characters Meet.
Pick a favorite character from each of two books and write a new story or play
in which they meet. Have the members of your class act out the new story. Readers'
BINGO.
Brainstorm 25 to 30 words that deal with books and write them on the board.
Give your students 9" x 12" newsprint and have them fold it into
nine squares. Then have the students write nine of the words from the board
into each of the squares on their sheet. Give them corn or candy for markers.
Randomly call off words from the board. When a student has filled in a
vertical, horizontal, or diagonal row, he/she should call out
"BOOKS!" I give the winner a paperback book. For variety, the
teacher can play Readers' BINGO by giving the definition of words rather than
the words themselves. Book-Word
Search.
Children love to do puzzles. To help generate an interest in book reports, my
students make a "word search" on graph paper using for the words a
book title, author's name, main characters, setting, and any key words for
events in the book. The puzzles are mounted on construction paper and
illustrated with pencil sketches or markers. They can be exchanged with class
members. If the "word search" puzzles are laminated, they can then
be exchanged many times and kept from year to year. These make excellent
at-seat activities and motivators to check out a variety of books. Please
Stand Up! A
fun game our class came up with is "Will the Real BOOK IT!® Reader
Please Stand Up." We choose a judge, a lawyer, three jurors, and three
defendants for each round. Each defendant takes turns coming up to the witness
stand, while the other two defendants wait outside the classroom or where they
cannot hear the others' testimony. The lawyer asks questions from a
questionnaire that one of the defendants has filled out on a book he/she has
read. After each defendant has been questioned, the three jurors vote on whom
they feel really read the book and give their answer to the judge. The
defendants are then asked to come back in and sit down. The judge counts the
jurors' votes and reads aloud the tally, and then asks, "Will the real
BOOK IT!® Reader Please Stand Up?" This has been a great incentive in my
classroom. Kid
Quiz. I let
children take turns reading one of their BOOK IT!® book choices orally to the
rest of their classmates. Prior to this oral reading, I ask the reader to
prepare two or three comprehension questions about the book. After the oral
reading, the reader gives a "quiz" to the class. The reader then has
the responsibility for grading the papers. (Kids love to play teacher and
check papers!) They could do the grading in class in lieu of another
assignment or at home. Read
to the Principal.
Recognize students' accomplishments in reading by selecting one or two
children daily to go to the principal's office to read to him/her. Before
starting the program, make a computer banner that says "I READ TO THE
PRINCIPAL." The children can color the letters. Hang the banner in the
principal's office and ask the children to sign the banner with different
colored markers after they've read their selections. The principal may want to
give the child a bookmark that is signed by him/her that says "I READ TO
THE PRINCIPAL." TV
vs. Reading
Timeline.
Encouraging growth and a sense of accomplishment with intermediate readers can
be attained with a personal reading timeline. Students are asked to produce a
timeline of their lives by naming their favorite books through the years.
Students can include personal pictures, books, book covers, illustrations,
etc., to show the history of their reading preferences. The displayed
timelines make excellent book advertisements, create impromptu book reports
and discussions with classmates, help students understand timelines, and help
each child to see how their reading has matured throughout the years. "You're
Under Arrest!"
My students in the 5th grade "kidnap" or "arrest" one of
the teachers whom they had when they were younger and sentence that teacher to
so many minutes of reading aloud before they return to their own class. I
inform the teachers that they will be "arrested," but the students
are not aware of this. I then stay in the room of the "arrested"
teacher and read to his/her students.
Carnival
of Books. Our
PTA sponsors a Carnival of Books. Food booths offer the following goodies with
an appropriate book theme: Popcorn -- Popping for Books, Pickles -- Pickled
Green Over Books, Cold Drinks -- A Toast for Books, and Candy Bags -- I'm
Sweet on Books. We also have a Jump-a-Thon booth named "We Jump for
Books." Students take up pledges and jump from Books
Open Doors.
Each classroom will agree on a favorite book. Then students will decorate
their doors as giant book covers. The giant book-cover door will open up to
find the room decorated as a scene or setting from the book. One day during
Children's Book Week, the students will come to school dressed as characters
from their chosen book. Judges can select grade-level winners or a hallway
winner. A giant "Book Cake" could be served at lunch to reward
everyone's hard work. Read-a-Thon.
The school could have a day-long Read-a-Thon, with the central office
tabulating the number of books or pages read in the whole school, principals
and custodian included. Hourly results could be posted on rungs of a ladder
reaching to the sky. Books
on Tape. Our
children will be choosing five simple reading books to tape for children in
the hospital who are too young, too tired, or too sick to read on their own.
The books will come from the children's hospital library so that they may
listen to the tape and follow along with the book. We will deliver the tapes
during Children's Book Week. Buddy
Books. Each
sixth grader will be assigned a first grader to interview, finding out about
their family, birthday, friends, pets, and favorite things. Using this
information, the sixth graders will write a story, using their first grader as
the main character and the information from the interview as the basis for the
story. The stories will be published in book form by the sixth graders,
complete with cover and a sewn binding. During Children's Book Week, the sixth
graders will present the books to their first-grade partners and share some
reading time with them. Bead
Hangers. I
give students a colored bead for each book report they turn in. I also give
them a ribbon on which to string these beads. When they have read ten books, I
give them a shiny bangle to place between the 10th and 11th book beads. I give
them another bangle to place between the 20th and 21st beads, the 30th and
31st beads, etc. These are hung in our window, which adds a festive air to our
room. The students take their chains home at the end of the year. Green
Light -- Go!
Students will read books recommended by their peers. To foster this, have
available in the classroom red, yellow, and green index cards. These cards
correspond to the colors in a stop light. A student fills out a green card to
tell others to "go" for this book; yellow means caution, the book
was so-so; and red means "stop," do not read this book. The front
side of the card has the following information written on it -- the title and
author of the book and the student's name. The back side of the card has the
following information written on it and should be filled in according to the
color card chosen: A green card should read "I really liked this book
because. ..." A yellow card should read, "This book was so-so
because...." A red card should read, "I did not like this book
because. ..." Have hanging in the classroom a burlap banner covered with
silly, comical buttons, such as "Who Needs Skool?" After a student
fills in an index card and staples it to the bulletin board, he/she can wear a
button for the day. "Picture"
Books. Take a
picture of each student holding his/her favorite book and attach a short
summary of the student telling in his/her own words why this book is so
special. Laminate and display. Students can read about classmates' selections
and expand their knowledge of exciting books to read. IF
YOU FOUND THIS STORY TO BE VALUABLE ...
Tell
the teachers in your school about it! Or you might have your principal include
mention of the story his/her weekly bulletin. That way, all teachers could
check out the story and the Education World site during their free period. Article
by Gary Hopkins Updated
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