A couple of years ago, I ditched the AR(Accelerated Reader) system in my classroom because in my heart I was convinced that it was causing my students to hate reading. A few students loved the competition of the system, but they were still reading for all the wrong reasons. It was my goal to instill a love of reading in the students who came through my classroom. I read, and reread, Lara Candler's Power Reading Workshops and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. Then I started shifting how I taught and assessed my students' reading.
Last year, my students completed the 40 Book Challenge with reading logs and parent sign-off sheets. This year I decided to make it a little more interesting with the Book Challenge Pack! Instead of merely having students write reading summaries, students will engage in meaningful, skill building activities that relate to the text that they are reading.
Each quarter students will receive a packet of nine challenge activities. I also send an email copy to all of my parents AND post the document on my class Edmodo page (for those kids who seem to lose every document that wanders into their backpacks). Each challenge packet will be housed in an orange 3-prong folder (I picked up a class set at Walmart for just a few dollars). The bright color will be easy for the students and parents to keep track of.
The packet includes activities for fictional and non-fictional texts. The first packet features more activities for fictional texts. This allows students the time to become more familiar with non-fiction text features as the year progresses. In third grade students begin reading learn instead of learning to read. Students should be fluently reading and understanding both types of text by the end of the year. As the year progresses, the students move into more challenge activities for non-fictional texts.
Last year I asked my students to leave all their activities together until the end of each quarter. But to be honest, several students always lost their work and I had a mountain of work to assess in a short period of time. This year I will ask my kids to turn in one activity per week. At the end of each quarter the students' folders will be refilled with their new 9 Week Choice board and the matching activity sheets.
The students will choose one activity to complete each week.
When they're finished, they will record their info on the challenge sheet.
At the end of the week the students will return their Book Challenge folder with the
completed challenge sheet and matching activity.
The packet includes a homework choice board, and a matching student direction board, for four quarters. I copy these sheets front to back and make one set of activity sheets for each student. Then my students will complete one book challenge each week as homework, or as a classroom activity, to increase their reading comprehension skills.
The Book Challenge Packet includes the following printable activities:
- Fiction Book Summary
- Decoding Characters
- Character Comparisons
- Character Maps
- Book Report (Fiction and Informational Text)
- Non-Fiction Book Summary
- Thinking Stems (2 Versions)
- Making Connections (Fiction) Flipbook
- An Important Detail
- Making Connections (Informational Text) Flipbook
- Story Summary Flipbook
- Non-Fiction KWL
- Story Elements Flipbook
- Character Trait Inferences
- Book Favorites
- Who's Who? (character analysis)
- Vocabulary Memory Game
- What's What? (topic analysis)
- 9 Pick Your Project Options
These routine homework assignments have really helped me streamline paperwork and cut back on the stress of constantly reinventing the wheel. My students enjoy the activities because they have more control over what they read and how they extend their thinking. I also know that they know and understand the expectations required to complete the assignments because I've modeled them in class, which allows them to be more successful. It also helps parents more easily stay on top of their child's homework since they know exactly what will be coming home each week.
If you're interested in challenging your students to enjoy reading again, click on one of the images above. It will lead you to the download for my Book Challenge Packet.
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