Friday, August 10, 2012

Reading Games for your Students

Hi friends!

I'm busy getting ready for another school year. Are you? Have you already started back to school?

After thinking about it for a while, I've decided that what I want to be great at this year is...making reading FUN! I'm working on my decorations, and planning lots of celebrations for our students. (Clifford's birthday party is already on my calendar!)

I've also created three different reading games for our students, and I've posted them on TPT. The big back-to-school sale happens Sunday and Monday (August 12 and 13), and my store is included in the sale. See the helpful reminder over there on the left side of the page?

(By the way, if you are reading this before Sunday, August 12, shop early at TPT and put stuff in  your wish list. The site usually slows down a bit during a big sale, and you can avoid the frustration by shopping early and making a wish list. Then you can check on your wish list items during the sale to see what the sale price is.)

Anyway, here are the reading games I've created.



This reading game comes with four versions: one for struggling readers, two different versions for average readers, and one for above average readers, all based on Lexile scores. Students will read their way around the board, reading specific books and series, free choice books, books that a teacher or friend recommends, and books on a certain subject, like dogs. A fifth version has the specific titles removed, so that teachers or librarians can customize the game with the books they have on hand.



This game for second grade also has four differentiated versions for struggling, average and above-average readers. And it also has a version with blanks. This game has students reading any book they choose by excellent authors like Cynthia Rylant, Kevin Henkes, or Mo Willems. They also have a few free choice spaces. By the time they reach the end, they will have read 20 books by different authors.



For my third, fourth, and fifth graders, we'll go on the Great Genre Journey. Students will read their way around this game board, reading books in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres, and writing titles in each space as they go. On the back of the game board (paper) is the key for the genre abbreviations.

Why these games? These will give me a chance to talk to students about what they're reading, and to hand out prizes like scratch'n'sniff bookmarks, or lunch in the library. In short, I think they'll make reading more fun for our students. (I tried reading logs last year, and we all got a little bored with that.)

If you're looking for an activity to encourage reading for YOUR students, I hope you'll check these out!




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