The social aspect of reading is one of my favorite things about being a teacher and a reader. I recently participated in a book study where we read Reading the Wild by Donalyn Miller. A “sequel” to Book Whisperer, this book is a must if you teach reading. Read my other recommended books for teaching reading here.
Among other valuable teaching tips and strategies, the book shares some very realistic ways to have students share their reading with others. On this post, we will explore some of those ways and how I have used (or plan to use) them in my classroom.
Book Recommendations
Donalyn Miller speaks heavily to the idea of students (and the teacher) recommending books to one another. One way to do this is have a recommendation board for the students to record and read recommendations. The picture above is from my second year teaching and was inspired by the amazing Beth Newingham. The students filled out simple forms to recommend books. Then, they placed them under the correct genre. When my students are browsing for books, they can check the book recommendation board.
What you can’t see from the picture is that I have a specific book holder to the left of the board. This is where the students stored their book recommendation books for easy locating by other students. Another option is to have a spot on the recommendation form for location (i.e. which bookshelf and which basket) if your library is super well organized.
Book Commercials
In the book, Donalyn Miller discusses having Book Commercials as a regular part of your reading workshop. The best part is how EASY these are to manage! Miller suggests simply having the students write the title and the author on the markerboard. Then, have the students sit in a designated spot (ideally in front of the markerboard where they wrote the book details) to share the book with the class.
When the student finishes the book commercial, they write the book title and the author on an index card and add it to a display with other book commercial cards. As students are looking for new books to read, they can browse the book commercial board for ideas. I plan to use the above image as the sign for my book commercial area. Click here to grab the sign.
For more about book commercials , click here. I have this site bookmarked for next year. It will be a huge help in implementing book commercials!
Reading Graffiti Board
Another idea that I am dying to try is a Reading Graffiti board where the students will write their favorite quotes from books. I plan to use a large piece of black butcher paper and metallic or white sharpies to create my board. The students can write one quote per book per student. I like having the requirement of only one quote so they have to choose the best quote that really spoke to them from the book. You can read more about his and see an example board here.
Reading Door Display
I had to add this idea to this blog after seeing it on my friend Stephanie who blogs at Teaching in Room 6. Stephanie created a “bookshelf” on her classroom door. Throughout the year, the students will write the titles of books they read on the spine of a book graphic which will be added to the door. Love this super visual way to have students share what they are reading. Click here to read more about how Stephanie uses this.
More Ways to Have Students Share Their Reading
Here are some more ways to have students share their reading with others. These ways will really inspire your students to share their reading and create a strong community of readers who regularly share.
- Create an online community that shares and reviews books they have read and enjoyed.
- Be well knowledgeable about children’s books and what might interest your students so you can personally recommend books to your students.
- Be mindful that you are also challenging your proficient, “epicenter” readers and taking them to new heights in their reading.
I’d love to hear from you about how you have your students share their reading and books they love. Let me know in the comments.
I was already planning to add a "review" element for books in my classroom next year. Thanks for the great ideas. I'm excited to look into book commercials a bit more!
You can have them self assess or have a peer review be having another student record it on an iPad. They can them tell you what they liked, or want to do different.
I love the reading graffiti idea! I've also been thinking about having my kids do book reviews, but maybe recording them, Reading Rainbow style. They love to see themselves in videos!
-Becky
Trials and Triumphs
I love your graffiti board! When I'm back in a classroom of my own, I'm definitely "borrowing" your idea. 🙂
I am loving the idea of book commercials. Just bookmarked the link. Thanks for sharing!
Kim
Quinnessential Lessons
Jennifer,
I’m departmentalizing for ELA. Your graffiti board reminder gave me an idea…not sure if it’s a good idea, but I’ll soon be able to share that part.
Do you see any draw backs with allowing the children to use the desktop of their friends coming in from the other class to write a published sentence with removable marker that reminds them of that person…or a sentence from a book s/he thinks the friend might like to read?
I’m interested in your take.
Bridget Mullett
Cobb County School District
I am having my students complete “Book Talks” at the end of each quarter. For this first quarter, they created one page “posters” (using a digital tool or paper) on their favorite book they read in quarter one. They then shared the posters in small groups and were able to hear about 4-5 other books that their classmates read, why they liked the book, a brief synopsis, and a favorite quote.
I have my students write up Book Talks on PowerPoint Mix online. They make slides, record them, and share with me online first and then they share with the entire reading class. We use our “Someday” book list (Dr. Layne) to keep track of the ones we want to read as the students present.
The book read-around is another great way to get students started on their “Someday” list to find a book they’d like to read. Collect multiple books from your librarian or from your own library that are popular or new. Go over the ways to “read” a book quickly to evaluated it. (Read the back cover, the inside flap of a hard cover, read the first few pages, skim through and look at pictures, etc…) Then place a book on every students’ desk. Decide a way to pass the books from desk to desk and give them a minute or two, or less at the end, to look at the books before you say “PASS.” Don’t have them write on their “Someday” list until the end when you display all the books on a table OR build in extra time to do that. Once we finished, I put all the books on the table and then picked sticks to let students check out the book they wanted to read. Sometimes our librarian had multiple copies so more than one student could choose their favorite!
Great post. You have shared very good ideas. I am sure your post is going to help parents as well. As a matter of fact, no points of arguments are left for the audience as the information is sound and authentic.
I love to get 2 or 3 children who have read the same book to act out a short scene from that book. They may do it as Reader’s Theatre or improvise to produce their own short take on that scene. It really inspires others to read the book. They may even have someone video it. Nothing too elaborate but sometimes the children love using simple props to represent the characters.
I love the idea of creating a book recommendation board! We have done book sharing in my class. Students simply sign up to share a book. They get in front of the class with their book and give the class a short summary and the reasons why they liked it. Simple, but the students enjoyed it and begged to share more books.