Book reports

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Home : 2004 : March : 22

Book reports
By Dawn

My students are required to read for 20 minutes (minimum) each night for pleasure. So for the second quarter I had my third graders do "Book Commercials." They had 1-2 minutes to "sell" the book to their classmates. They
needed to be able to speak comfortably about: Title, author, the characters, the plot, the problem/solution, etc. They really enjoyed the fact that they didn't have to finish a book that didn't hold their interest and still sell the story to others. I rarely had children sell a book they didn't read all the way. And the idea of only having 2 minutes or less to summarize the story was challenging

for all. It was most encouraging to see the lowest readers choose books that were a stretch and cause the higher readers to try harder. The run on "Zack Files" stories in the library was overwhelming. We did this for one quarter, about 8 weeks, so every student had to read and sell four books. We used the 20 minutes before library so they could choose a new book for the following commercial. Each of my students has a # so the assignment reminder was as easy as Even numbered Wednesdays were for Even numbered students and Odd on odd. If a student was absent or not ready they could ask for another day in the same week. I would check the reading level of the story on the Accelerated Learning website. Type in the title and get the reading level. Then I would write a note to the student on the good and needs to improve of their report. I would also include the reading level and comment on whether they need to beef it up a level. They also received a grade: O, S, N. This also met our Listening and Speaking standard. Students not giving commercials were given a listening grade. I did this for the second quarter (October-December) which was a good time to be in reading in the evenings. I was amazed how many were disappointed that we didn't continue the commercials the next quarter.

**Now I am looking for some new ideas that will get them ready for Fourth grade type reports. I was hoping to have a "Menu" of book report styles/projects (ie. diorama, character poster, story map, 1 page written summary, etc.) for them to choose from with the plan that they complete one every two to three weeks.