As we are getting to the final months of the school year, it may become more of a challenge to keep students engaged in learning. This might be the perfect time of year to introduce some activities that will challenge your students to explore new books, or to spend more time reading and less time looking out the windows during sunny, warm days.
One thing that many educators and researchers have found is that play helps students want to learn. Tell them they have to spend time reading every day and they may have a difficult time committing to it. Turn it into a game where readers get rewarded for the amount they read, or bring in surprises for certain milestones, and they will want to do the reading.
Stuck for ideas? We have looked around the internet and found a few thought starters for you:
- Musical Books! Put all the chairs in your classroom in a circle, with a different book under each chair. Play music while the students walk around the ring of chairs. When the music stops, the students sit down and read whatever book is under the chair. After the game is over, place all of the books you used in the game on a separate shelf so students can read them later.
- Read-A-Thon! There are two ways to accomplish this one! The first is to set a number of hours for students to read over a week or a month. Encouraging them to read at least fifteen to twenty minutes a day is the ideal. For a week, that would mean about two hours of reading. Or set aside one full day of class time and read as much as you can in the one day. Cover the subjects you would normally cover over that time, but spend the time reading and discussing the books read. You can even encourage parents, teachers, and other school officials to come and join you!
- Reading Puzzle! Divide a picture into the exact number of pieces as students in your class. Then have them all select a book, either randomly or one that they want to read. Once they finish the book, they can add their puzzle piece to the picture. You can also make it a class assignment by letting them know the number of books they have to complete to see the whole puzzle, and offer a small prize to the ones who read the most books!
- Set up a reading scavenger hunt! All of your students have different interests, from sports to science. Building a reading list based on all the interests of your class is a way to get students to learn about a wide variety of subjects. Ones they may not have had thought of before, or thought they would like!
- Choose a subject! Children can get focused on a subject and really dig in deeply. They will discover a topic and read every book they can about it in the library. One way to mix up the books that they read is to introduce some chance. Have them roll dice or select cards, with each number related to a different topic. When they finish a book, they get a new opportunity!
Turning reading into a game, or some other challenge, can be a way to encourage students to get out of their reading comfort zone. Brief glimpses at new books could open up whole to worlds to the right student. Providing the spark in a safe, fun way allows the students to try something they may not have considered exploring themselves.
If you need suggestions for books, reaching out to involve the parents or speaking to the school librarian can help you find the right books to have your class read. Of course, asking the student can also provide a wealth of ideas for what they want to read. Now begins the challenge of creating the event for your class!
