25 Alternatives to Book Reports

These creative ideas address multiple learning styles and many provide higher level thinking skills that aren’t found in the “typical” book report. Consider using several ideas and giving students a choice.

1. Design an advertising campaign to promote the sale of the book you read.  Include each of the following in your campaign; a poster, a radio or TV commercial, a magazine or newspaper ad, a bumper sticker, and a button.

2. Write a scene that could have happened in the book you read but didn’t.  After you have written the scene, explain how it would have changed the outcome of the book.

3. Create a board game based on events and characters in the book you read.  By playing your game, members of the class should learn what happened in the book. Your game must include the following; a game board, a rule sheet and clear directions, events and characters from the story on cards or on a game board.

4. Make models of three objects that were important in the book you read. On a card attached to each model, tell why the object was important in the book.

5. If the book you read involves a number of locations within a country or geographical area, plot the events of the story on a map. Make sure the map is large enough for us to read the main events clearly. Attach a legend to your map. Write a paragraph that explains the importance of each event indicated on your map.

6. Create a comic book version of the book you read that show the major events in the plot. Write captions for each drawing so that someone who did not read the book can understand the book illustrations.

7. Design a movie poster for the book you read. Cast the major characters in the book with real actors and actresses. Include a scene or dialogue from the book in a layout of the poster. Remember, you are trying to convince someone to see the movie based on the book, so your writing should be persuasive.

8. Make a test for the book you read. Include ten true false, ten multiple choice, and ten short essay questions. After writing the test, provide the answers for your questions.

9. Select one character from the book you read who has the qualities of a heroine or hero. List these qualities and tell why you think they are heroic.

10. Imagine that you are about to make a feature-length film of the novel you read. You have been instructed to select your cast from members of your class. Cast all the major characters in your novel from your classmates and tell why you selected each person for a given part. Consider both appearance and personality.

11. Plan a party for the characters in the book you read. In order to do this, complete each of the following tasks: (a) Design an invitation to the party, which would appeal to all of the characters. (b) Imagine that you are five of the characters in the book and tell what each would wear to the party. (c) Tell what food you will serve and why. (d) Tell what games or entertainment you will provide and why your choices are appropriate. (e) Tell how three of the characters will act at the party.

12. List five of the main characters from the book you read. Give three examples of what each character learned or did not learn in the book.

13. Obtain a job application from an employer in your area, and fill out the application as one of the characters in the book you read that might do. Before you obtain the application, be sure that the job is one for which a character in your book is qualified. If a resume is required, write it. (A resume is a statement that summarizes the applicant’s education and job experience. Career goals, special interests, and unusual achievements are sometimes included.)

14. You are a prosecuting attorney putting one of the characters from the book you read on trial for a crime or misdeed. Prepare your case on paper, giving all your arguments and supporting them with facts from the book.

15. Adapt the prosecuting attorney activity outlined above to a dual role project: In one role, present the prosecution’s case, and in the other, present the case for the defense. If a classmate has read the same book, you might make this a two-person project.

16. Make a shoebox diorama of a scene from a book you read. Write a paragraph explaining the scene, and attach it to the diorama.

17. Pretend that you are one of the characters in the book you read. Tape a monologue (one person talking) of that character telling of his or her experiences. Be sure to write out a script before taping.

18. Make a book jacket for the book you read. Include the title, author, and publishing company of the book on the cover. Be sure the illustration relates to an important aspect of the book. On the inside flap or on the back of your book jacket, write a paragraph telling about the book. Explain why this book makes interesting reading when writing this “blurb”.

19. Write a letter to a friend about the book you read. Explain why you liked or did not like the book.

20. Make a “ wanted” poster for a character in the book you read. Include the following: (a) a drawing of the character (you may use a magazine cutout), (b) a physical description of the character, (c) the character’s misdeeds, (d) other information about the character that you think is important, (e) the reward offered for the capture of the character.

21. Create a newspaper that is devoted entirely to the book you read. The front page should look as much like a real newspaper page as possible. The articles should be based on events and characters in the book.

22. Make a collage that represents major characters and events in the book you read. Use pictures and words cut from magazines in your collage. Include a paragraph that explains your collage.

23. Make a time line of the major events in the book you read. Be sure the divisions on the time line reflect the time periods in the plot. Use drawings or magazine cutouts to illustrate events along the time line.

24. Change the setting of the book you read. Describe how this change of setting would alter events and affect characters.

25. Retell the plot of the book you read as it might appear in a children’s picture book. Be sure that the vocabulary and images you use are appropriate for that age group. Include illustrations.

Math Review Suggestions

Here are some good daily math review books with worksheets that I have seen used in my school....

Math 4 Today

One worksheet has four or five rows and students complete one row each day and at the end of the week the entire sheet has been completed. This is a good way to review previously taught skills.


Math Minutes

Ten problems on one sheet that review different math skills. This is more spread out and less intimidating than the Math 4 Today.


Drops in the Bucket

This worksheet is organized by skill and the review skill in labeled on the worksheet unlike the other two; however to me it looks a bit crowded.


All of these companies have "reading" review sheets as well that you can buy separately.

Steps for Writing a Great Summary

As a middle school teacher, students often came to me with varying degrees of writing experience. Developing a common language early on is key to ensuring a strong foundation. This Step Up-inspired summary plan is great as a handout or classroom poster to get students writing quality, consistent summaries. 

Reading Strategies, Genre and Theme Posters

Some of you may know that I used to teach Language Arts. I am pretty sure I was born to teach it and I miss it terribly. I love going into classrooms and catching a few seconds of reading instruction. I love all of the posters in the rooms, the discussions, the adventures, the picking apart of each little element of the stories. In my travels I have found some excellent resources that I want to share with you.

Beanie Baby Strategies
This site is elementary based and uses Beanie Babies to teach word attack skills and reading comprehension skills. Posters have already been created.

Genres
This site provides genre posters, genre at a glace sheet, genre cards, genre graphs etc to use in the classroom.

Theme
This is the same site as the genre posters and it provides examples and descriptions of common literary themes. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link that says "Click Here for Old Theme Posters"

Character Space/ Character Book

When you can relate classroom activities to anything that is popular students love it. One idea for Language Arts teachers is to recreate a Facebook page for your students to fill out about a character they read. You can use Word and adjust the columns to create your Facebook page for characters. When I made this, Myspace was still popular with the younger kids so I called mine "Character Space".

All information is about the character the student chose. They need to use details from the book to fill out the page. The comments section is for other characters to leave comments like on a real Facebook page.

T- Shirt Activity

I am now dedicated to spicing up our "Teaching" section of Fly Girls. This activity is great for the first week of school when you are trying to get to know your students.  It can also be modified as a fun, artsy activity for the students to do in any subject. I am a big fan of tricking kids into thinking they are doing "fun work" when really it is the same as just writing their answers on paper.

First you need an outline of a shirt or really any object you wish. Here is one I found on Google.com:

Blow the T shirt outline up to an 8x10 size. Each student will need one shirt.

And here is the activity:

As we begin a new school year and meet new people it is important that we get to know each other.  On the back of this paper you will find an outline of a t-shirt.  Follow the directions and decorate your t-shirt so we can all learn about each other.

1.   Around the collar write an alliterative adjective that goes with your name.  Example: Brilliant Bob

2.   In the middle of the t-shirt draw three things you enjoy doing.

3.   On the right sleeve name your favorite subject.

4.   On the left sleeve write an adjective people use when describing you.

5.   On the bottom of the t-shirt write one goal that you have for the school year.

Context Clues Bookmark

For many students, vocabulary is a huge stumbling block to reading comprehension. Students lose track of the meaning of a passage while stuck on the meaning of a word. Teaching kids to use “context clues” is a terrific technique to get students over this hump. This bookmark provides context clues reminders and examples for a quick and easy reference during reading. 

Teaching Using Podcasts

In my graduate class that I am taking online we had an assignment where we had to complete a podcast and share with the class. At first I thought it was a video podcast but then when I went to do the assignment I realized it was a phone cast.  This is a great tool to use in the classroom in a variety of ways.

Ipadio.com!!!!

With a phone cast you can:
~ update your channel daily with class announcements
~ record directions for group or independent work
~ record stories that your students may be reading for a listening center
~ record announcements to play for the school in the morning
~ have students explain vocabulary terms, math problems, science concepts for absent students

The possibilities are endless. You simple register your phone with the site and start recording.  How would you use a phone cast in your classroom?

Using a Ruler To Learn How to Tell Time

Many students in the early Elementary grades get confused at the concept of counting hours on a clock. How many times do teachers have to come up with saying to get kids to remember hours/vs minutes? How about how many hours is it from 1:00 until 4:00? When students are first introduced to telling time and learning how many hours there are between times a helpful visual for them is to have a number line so they can view the numbers as linear and not circular.  It is important to remember that the students should still have a clock in front of them as well. The number line is NOT a substitute for learning how to tell time on a clock.

Students can use a pencil, or a dry erase marker if the number line is laminated, to count from one time to another. For example, if the teacher asked how many hours is it between 1:00 and 4:00 the students would see there are three humps connecting the letters and know that the answer was three hours.

This visual is probably best suited for lessons that do not use minutes or distinguish between AM and PM.

Class Bank Accounts

My husband did some training with the Air Force for a few months and during that time I worked at an elementary school tutoring students in math. One of my favorite teachers to help was a 4th grade teacher who just loved her job. One of my favorite things that she did was she used money for a class incentive/behavior management. There are hundreds of different ways to do this but I liked how she incorporated it into her daily routine.

1. Find a money template and print your picture (the teacher's) on the money. With some quick googling I found this website where you can download money and add a picture. Scroll all the way to the bottom.
http://www.printablekidsplaymoneytemplates.com/

2. Give students a folder or envelope that they can use as their "bank".

3. Reward students with $1 rewards for things like giving a good answer, helping another student, walking well in the hall, turning in HW all week, getting a 100% etc.

4. Charge students for things like not having their name on their paper, talking during instruction, missing HW, using the bathroom etc.

5. At the end of the week have students trade in their dollars for bigger bills: $10, $20 etc. This way you can reuse the $1.

6. Students use the money earned to buy prizes or the whole class can earn a reward when they reach a certain class total like $500.

There are tons of ways to use this in the classroom. The teacher I saw use it would charge everyone in the class a dollar if they had issues in Music, PE etc or if they misbehaved when they had a substitute. At the end of the year the teacher holds an auction of prizes she has collected all year so that the students can use the money they have earned. As she collects good prizes she shows the students so they know what they are saving for. This incentive system would probably work best with upper elementary students.

Using Key Words to Increase Comprehension

A reading strategy that I often used with my lower readers was using key words from the reading selection to make predictions, increase comprehension, and to help students summarize what they read. The process is simple. (This is best used for short reading selections or for single chapters of a novel.)

Step One: The teacher reads the selection before the lesson and chooses 3-5 key words from the story that focus on the main idea/events of the selection.

Step Two: Before reading the selection with the students the teacher should present the words to the students, practice saying the words and discuss their meaning. These words DO NOT have to be vocabulary terms for the story.

Step Three: Tell the students the title of the reading selection and/or the cover of the novel if applicable and have them complete the following sentence: "I think/predict the story will be about ___________" and the students must use all of the key words in their predictions.

Step Four: Have students share their predictions and then read the story.

Step Five: Have students write a summary of what they read on the same paper as their predictions. They must use all of the key words in their summary.

This process helps build predicting skills, fluency, comprehension and summarizing.

Utopian Literature

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, utopia is defined as “a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions” (Merriam-Webster, Inc.). Utopian literature offers an ideal opportunity for teachers and parents to encourage good reading habits while having important conversations about perfectionism, society, morality, and many other topics.

Questions for discussion:

• Is perfection attainable?
• Is “perfect” the same for everyone?
• Which is more important: safety or freedom?
• Who makes laws? Who enforces them?
• Is it okay for people to be different? Should everyone be the same?
• Is it possible to create a perfect place? What would it be like?
• Is the utopia in this book really ideal? What are the flaws?

Recommended utopian literature:

The Giver* by Lois Lowry (11+)

                Click here for a reading guide

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (9+)

To ask questions about the book

Messenger by Lois Lowry (9+)

The Hunger Games* by Suzanne Collins (12+)

Visit Suzanne Collins’ website

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (12+)

The Supernaturalist by Eion Colfer (10+)

Uglies* by Scott Westerfeld (11+)

Check out Scott Westerfeld’s blog

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer (12+)

The White Mountains* by John Christopher (12+)

The Secret Under my Skin by Janet McNaughton (12+)

Among the Hidden* by Margaret Peterson Haddix (9+)

Watch the book trailer

First Light by Rebecca Stead (9+)

The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman (12+)

The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle (11+)

City of Ember* by Jean DuPrau (8+)

Watch the movie trailer

*First in a series

(Barnes and Noble, LLC)