7 Fun Ways to Encourage Reading in School or at Home!

AHHHHH! it feels good to be back at blogging again. I have been sooooo busy with my personal life that I have NOT posted for 5 months...yep...you read that right...5 months! I am sure you can relate to this as well! It has been a great 5 months ...all good stuff, so to speak, but no time for the weary as they say! So that being said...

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I am sure that if you are a teacher you are already back at it or almost Back to school.

All summer long I thought about how so many kids are simply tethered to their i-phones, I-pads, computers and what not...many don't pick up a book too much during the summer and may even have to be coaxed a bit during the school year to read in school or at home!

I wondered how we, as teachers and parents, can encourage our kids to read more and have a bit of fun reading in school and at home.

So here are a few tried and true ideas on how to make reading more fun and engaging for your kiddos!

Give an allotted time to read...perhaps 15-20 minutes or whatever works for your students.

Then ring a chime and have your students go back to their seats or gather on the rug and have a few share out about their book in relation to the focus you gave. Fun and learning...right?  It works and the kids love it!!! TRUST ME!!!!

1.  Flashlight Reading:

Provide enough flashlights so each of your students or all have a flashlight to use.  You can also ask for parents to send in flashlights or even pick them up at your local dollar spot.

Everyone chooses a book they would like to read.

Let everyone find the perfect spot around the room to read. i would let them read anywhere they felt comfortable: chairs, pillows, rugs, whatever flexible

seating you have in your classroom.

Give a reading focus: Our reading Focus today is main idea, Is your book fiction or nonfiction and how do you know? Let's think about the character traits of the main character, what is the problem in your story and ho is it solved? Use any reading skill, strategy or concept you are working on or teaching in your classroom.

Give an allotted time to read...perhaps 15-20 minutes or whatever works for your students.

Then ring a chime and have your students go back to their seats or gather on the rug and have a few share out about their book in relation to the focus you gave. Fun and learning...right?  It works and the kids love it!!! TRUST ME!!!!

2.  Big Books with Pointers:

This will obviously work if you have big books and enough big books for every child to partner up to read around the room.

I would first either randomly pick partners using my "partner sticks" or select partners ahead of time according to their abilities or strategically by partners I think will work well together etc. 

Then give out or have partners choose a big book to share.  

Next hand out pointers. (of course you have modeled

These are just a few of the pointers
that came from Target Dollar Spot

and practiced how to use pointers to read...that is soooooo important!) You can also use unsharpened pencil that have fun erasers on top!

then have them find spots to read. Give them a reading focus.

Ring your chime or use some other cute attention getter to show that the time is up.

Walk back to the rug or designated area and share out!!!  

  

3.  Use a Reading Phones: 

If you are a DIY type of person, then simply go yo Home Depot or Lowe's and pick up some PVC white plastic piping and replicate this design...Voila! you have a fun way for kids to read independently!

Hand out the pipes, give a reading focus, set the timer, ring the chime and share out!  EASY PEASY!

4.  Read like your on T.V.: 

This is a fun way to work on fluency!

Set your reading focus on fluency and tell your students they will have a chance to read like they are on T.V. or even you-tube, which is more popular now!

When it is time to share out, give your students a pretend microphone that you can purchase at 5 Below or perhaps a dollar store or if you have a real mic or one you use in your classroom, just simply give them a chance to be on stage. i have even seen teachers who have made small stages to use.

5.  Have a Shared Reading Picnic outside:

Our school is situated near out Middle School and behind the school, there are woods.  

When our school was constructed, they added some really unique spaces. One was a "tree house" which was built so you were "up in the  trees' when you walked onto it.  

We also had an outdoor space to read back by the woods. So after a hike learning about organisms, we would grab our snacks and have a reading picnic. Questions were asked during shared reading and we chatted more about the book after we went back into the classroom!  

6.  Have a pajama reading day:

Have a day where everyone wears their pj's to school or sweats. Ask them to bring their favorite story to school that day and even a favorite stuffed animal.

Then have them partner up and read their stories to each other with a focus. After a designated amount of time, have them share out about their book. It is always fun to have the partners share out about the book they were listening to as their partner read...if that makes sense! 

  

7.  Have you ever Tried Reading Glasses:

As we get older, we cringe to think about having to use reading glasses, but give your first graders a change to use "READING GLASSES" and they will read and read and read with glasses of course!  

Years ago I found fashion glasses with clear plastic lens at the dollar spot at Target and literally bought 25 pairs to have in my classroom. I kept them in a basket and my kiddos were able to use them any time they wanted, but on certain days we had "reading with Glasses" and they all grabbed a pair to use and read.

Sometimes they would ask if they could wear them all day!it was so cute to see the kids with their glasses on and it made those who actually had glasses feel proud that they had REAL ONES!  PS I did this with first and second graders, but I have a feeling upper grades and Kinders might like them TOO!

Well there you have it...7 Ways to Have Fun Reading in your Classroom or at Home to Start Off the Year!  Look for more fun reading ideas to come soon. I have about 100 ideas listed..so....Look out here they come! Don't want to overwhelm you at the beginning of the year with all 100!

Try these ideas out and let me know how they worked for you!