Reading

Free ReadFridays

Book List

Read, Talk, Write

KWL

This is a great alternative to the "evil" book report and helps to get students to read for fun. It has been quite successful and now students ask when we are going to have another Free Read Friday! I use this before holidays or at the end of a unit as a break before starting something new.

MATERIALS:

• prizes
• a SHORT form with spaces for students' names, date, period, book title, starting page (where they start at the beginning of the period), ending page (where they get to by the end of the period), and a place for a comment (sometimes I ask for a prediction, favorite character, recommendation for actors to play the parts in a movie, or opinion)

MATERIALS:

1. Ask students to bring a book that interests them to class. My only stipulations are that it must be a book (not a magazine) and must have more words than pictures. I also bring a variety of books for those who forget or want something else to read (John Grisham, Charleston Ghost Stories, etc.)
2. As they come in to the classroom, I give them the form to fill out and they are asked to begin reading. Usually the form is only 1/2 a page long.
3. When there are only five or ten minutes left in class ask students to stop and fill out the form. Then they fold their forms and put them in a box.
I draw one name from the box and give them a prize. Everyone loves the fact that they have a chance to win. I also give everyone who reads (they all do) a 100 for a daily grade. Depending on how your grading system is set up you could give bonus points, daily grades, participation points, etc. The prizes, as I tell the students, depend on how close to payday it is! One of the favorite prizes is the snack pack. I put a soft drink, candy bars, crackers, chips, hard candy, etc. in a bag and tie it with raffia. I have also gotten a local pizza place and hamburger joint to donate certificates for free items. Other great prizes are the pre-paid calling cards (you can get these for under ten dollars at Walmart, Target, etc.), perfume and make-up samples from department stores (if this case do a girl prize and a guy prize). I will ask just about anyone to donate prizes! I think it is also important to wrap the prize and make it look really special even if it is just candy. I consider this to be a success when a student asks to keep the book he has borrowed to finish.

Books Worth Reading
Listed Alphabetically by Author


 

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z


 

A: Alder, The King's Shadow  Alexander, The Black Cauldron	G: George, Julie of the Wolves   George, The Cry of the Crow   George, My Side of the Mountain   Goble, Star Boy   Gray, Adam of the Road   Greene, Beat the Turtle Drum
B:  Babbit, Tuck Everlasting  Baum, The Wizard of Oz Baylor, When Clay Sings Blos, A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal Blume, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret  Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Brink, Caddie Woodlawn Brooks, The Moves Make the Man Burnett, The Secret Garden Burnford, The Incredible Journey Byars, The Cybil War Byars, The Summer of the Swans	H:  Hamilton, M.C. Higgins, The Great   Hamilton, Anthony Burns: The Defeat               and  Triumph of a Fugitive Slave   Hamilton, The Mystery of Drear House   Hamilton, Cousins   Hamilton, The People Could Fly: American     Black     Folktales   Hamilton, The House of Dies Drear   Hamilton, Zeely   Henry, King of the Wind   Hesse, Letters from Rifka   Hesse, The Music of the Dolphins   Highwater, Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey   Hobbs, Bearstone   Hughes, The Dream Keeper   Hunt, Up the Road Slowly   Hunt, Across Five Aprils
C: Christopher, The White Mountains Clark, Secret of the Andes Cleary, Ramona and Her Father Cleary, Dear Mr. Henshaw Cleary, Runaway Ralph Collier, Jump Ship to Freedom Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone Creech, Chasing Redbird Creech, Walk Two Moons Curtis, The Watson's Go To Birmingham Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice Cushman, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy	K:  Keith, Rifles for Watie   Kerr, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit   Konigsburg, The View From Saturday   Konigsburg, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth,William              McKinley and Me, Elizabeth   Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of   Mrs.                  Basil E. Frankweiler   Kroeber, Ishi: The Last of His Tribe   Krumgold,.....And Now Miguel  L: L'Engle, A Wind in the Door   L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time   Lawson, Rabbit Hill   LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea   Levine, Ella Enchanted   Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe   Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader   Lowry, The Giver   Lowry, Anastasia Krupnik   Lowry, Number the Stars
D:  Dalgliesh, The Courage of Sarah Noble  De Trevino, I, Juan de Pareja DeAngeli, The Door in the Wall E: Enright, Thimble Summer N: Naylor, Shiloh   Naylor, Shiloh Season   Neville, It's Like This, Cat   Norton, The Borrowers	M: MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind   MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall   Meltzer, Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews in the   Holocaust   Monjo, The Drinking Gourd   Murphy, The Long Road to Gettysburg   Murphy, A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by   One Boy   Myers, Somewhere in the Darkness   Myers, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
O: O'Brian, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH  O'Dell, Sing Down the Moon  O'Dell, Thunder Rolling in the Mountains  O'Neill, Hailstones and Halibut Bones P:  Paterson, The Great Gilly Hopkins   Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia   Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved   Paterson, Parks Quest   Paulsen, Hatchet   Paulsen, Dogsong   Paulsen, The Winter Room  Paulsen, Woodsong   Paulsen, Dancing Carl   Paulsen, Voyage of the Frog R: Raskin, The Westing Game   Reiss, The Upstairs Room   Rylant, Missing May
	F: Fenner, Yolanda's Genius Fleischman, The Boring Room  Forbes, Johnny Tremain Fox, The Slave Dancer Fox, One-Eyed Cat Freedman, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery Freedman, Lincoln: A Photobiography Freedman, The Life and Death of Crazy Horse Fritz, Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold  Fritz, The Double Life of Pocahontas Fritz, Stonewall Fritz, Homesick: My Own Story  U: Uchida, Journey to Topaz

S: Silverstein, A Light in the Attic   Snyder, The Egypt Game   Sota, Baseball in April and Other Stories   Soto, Taking Sides   Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond   Speare, Calico Captive  Speare, The Bronze Bow   Speare, The Sign of the Beaver   Sperry, Call it Courage Y:   Yep, The Rainbow People

T: Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry   Taylor, Let the Circle be Unbroken V: Voigt, Dicey's Song W: White, Charlotte's Web   Willard, A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and   Experienced Travelers   Wojciechowska, Shadow of a Bull

Read, Talk, Write
Objective:  Build Comprehension Skills
Materials:  Timer
                Reading Material
                Notebooks
Students work in groups of  2.  A section of text is assigned(page, paragraph, chapter).  Set the timer for 2 minutes.  Everyone reads the assigned text until the timer goes off.  If a student finishes the passage they are to reread.  The two students talk about what they read.  Each student must talk for 1 minute.  They may need to repeat themselves if they finish before the buzzer.  Then set the timer for 5 minutes and each student writes what they read and talked about.    This activity is great with novels.

KWL
Before reading a book find out what students know and want to know.  Evaluate what they've learned with the same procedure.
Use a large piece of butcher paper divided into 3 columns.  Label the columns K, W, and L.  Have the students share all the things they already know.  Record their findings on the paper.  Survery them to see what they WANT to know and record this in the W column.  When the readings are done and it is time to review fill in the column for L with what was LEARNED.
This works great with non-fiction material.