Ten Alternative Book Projects to Engage Your Readers

Hey!  It's Nicole from Learning Lab again. I'm going to blog about turing your boring book reports into fun, alternative book projects!  

Last year was my first year teaching Read180 in a few years.  I love Read180 and what I have seen it do for my kiddos so I was excited to get a chance to implement it again.  But...the book projects included with the program are B-O-R-I-N-G!  Sure, some of them are pretty good, but the directions can be questionable and I find myself using the same two projects over and over with my class.  

My students started to get frustrated (beyond frustrated) with the repetition so I promised them that one of my summer tasks would be to create new book projects, just for them.  

I mean, who doesn't just LOVE working on school stuff during summer break?  You know we all do it!

These book project ideas are a break from the traditional book report and can be used with any book!  So far, they are loving the new book projects!  I see a lot more effort being put into their work.  

Here are some ideas:

This one is pretty self-explanatory.  The students can write a letter to the author.  Depending on whether the author is alive or not, you students could actually mail their letter out!  Wouldn't it be wonderful if they got a reply?!?

All kids watch a lot of movies.  They're exposed to movie posters every time they set foot in a mall or theater.  The creativity you will see when they create a movie poster for the book they just read can be amazing!

What kid doesn't love Diary of a Wimpy Kid or any other graphic novel?  They're going to love creating their own comic strip using details from the book they just read even more!
  

This is their chance to be honest about the book they just read.  They can even give it a 5-star rating if they totally loved it!

Timelines help kids practice sequencing and retelling.  Timelines also have less writing and are more visual which is perfect for some of your kiddos!

Your artistic kids will love redesigning the book cover.  The catch is that they also have to rewrite the short summary on the back of the book too!

Here is another visual project that will pull some of your readers right in!  Imagine being able to see all of the places from your book on a map!   

Every book has a juicy part fit for the front page of a newspaper.  Here is a chance for your kids to write an article retelling a specific event.  

Your kids will get a kick out of "interviewing" their favorite character.  First, they will need to come up with some questions and then they'll need to answer them from the character's point of view.

I find that when you add technology to just about anything, kids will gravitate towards it.  I am sure they will love putting together a PowerPoint presentation all about the book they just read.

What other book projects do you like to use with your students?  I would love to hear your ideas!

If you want to try alternative book projects in your classroom, I have expanded on these ideas and created directions sheets for each project for my students.  

Each project includes the task and the plan with detailed directions including "must haves" and "may haves".  There is also a Do Not Forget section that give little reminders to keep your kids on track. 

I have also included two versions of a log to keep track of which projects your students have completed.  The first one gives them choice and they just log their choice.  The second one lists each project and the student has to complete each project once before repeating a choice.  

Do you use interactive notebooks in your classroom?  No worries!  I have reduced the size of each page so that it fits right into an interactive notebook!

Thanks for stopping by!  If you want to read more about how I use interactive notebooks with Read180 and pick up a freebie, you should check out this blog post.  

I would love to see you again soon.  You can find me on my blog, in my TpT store (Learning Lab), or on Instagram (@Learning_Lab).  Instagram is my favorite way to connect with teachers.  

Multiplication Strategies 101

How did you learn to multiply 2-digit by 2-digit numbers?  If you are like me there was only one way and that was the traditional algorithm.  I was never shown another way until I had to teach it to my fifth graders.  I remember reading the following statement: "I can demonstrate, with and without concrete materials, an understanding of multiplication (2-digit by 2-digit) to solve problems.  I remember thinking how am I going to help my students understand this process when I was only taught one way myself.  After a lot of reading, I not only found many great ways to help my students with learning this skill but I found that very few of my students chose the traditional algorithm as their go to multiplication strategy.  Read below to discover some of the ways I now teach 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication and which one became my students absolute favorite!

Array Method

Students make an array using base ten blocks to model the numbers.  They then divide the array into four parts that are easier to calculate.  Finally, they add the four products to get the answer.  My students love trying to figure out my mystery arrays.  You can find these interactive math notebook resources here.

Box Method

Some teachers prefer to call the array method the box method as well.  After modelling many problems using the base ten blocks, I like to move to the box method.  It follows the same method however,  I find it speeds up the process.  Students draw a rectangle and divide it into 4 parts.  They label the box showing tens and ones along the sides.  They then multiply the numbers and add the answers altogether.  I find providing students with small white boards and markers is a great way to teach this strategy.

Partial Products

Some of my students experienced difficulty with this method at first but with the scaffolding provided by using boxes as a guide they soon mastered this method.  The important thing to remember to stress when teaching this method is how to record the numbers.

Lattice Method

This method may look complicated but it is really not that hard once you learn to draw the boxes.  This method has become my students absolute favorite method to multiply.  Even my students' parents loved it once they saw how it was done.  I found watching YouTube videos was the best way for me to master this one.  You can see how it works by clicking here.

Traditional Algorithm

I still teach my students how to multiply using the traditional algorithm as this is the method most of their parents will show them at home or understand from their school days.  I have found that by teaching all the other strategies first it gives my students a much better understanding of this method.  

I have found that by letting my students have the choice as to which multiplication strategy they understand the best and then using it to solve multiplication problems has resulted in increased confidence and accuracy when multiplying.

I hope this helps you to master multiplication strategies of 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication.  Maybe the lattice method will become your new favorite way to multiply!

Foldables in the Classroom

Hi, fellow educators! It's Shelly Rees from Appletastic: Blossoming in Fifth Grade. I am excited to share my love of Foldables, Flip Flaps, Flappables, and anything interactive! 

You've heard them called by many names, but foldables have taken over many classrooms, and for good reason. Since I started using these nifty little treasures, student interest has picked up and retention of concepts has increased. Here are several ways you can incorporate foldables into your students' learning:

 Take notes under flaps of major historical events. Draw arrows between the events and number them to show their chronological order.

 Have students create fact cards about a specific event and then keep them inside a pocket glued to a notebook page. They can refer to the fact cards for study and review.

 Side-opening flaps are great for having students solve problems on the front and writing the answers beneath.

 Timelines are more memorable and exciting when students construct them by gluing together shorter event strips. Add the long timelines to a bulletin board to make an eye-catching display!

 Foldables are great for bulletin boards, too! Staple the flap to the board and place the information beneath. Students can refer to the flaps for practice and review.

 Fold a file folder inward to create a lapbook. Add flaps and foldables to the lapbook to make it truly interactive. This is a great way to showcase student work and to create a culminating project! You can find an easy-to-follow lapbook tutorial HERE.

 Pockets are perfect for sorting information. Create a pocket for any topic and have students sort words into the pockets. This works for any subject (nouns and verbs, solids and gasses, prime and composite numbers, etc.)!

 Mini file folders are a wonderful way to take notes on a specific topic. Each tab of the folder can be used as a subtopic. Watch a video of how I use these mini file folders HERE.

 Foldables don't have to be square! 

 Create a mini booklet by having students glue end over end of small pages or simply staple the old-fashioned way.

 Make geometry more hands-on by creating foldables of 2-dimensional shapes and listing the properties beneath the flaps.

 Create doorways by gluing the outer edges of 2 rectangles to a page. Place notes, graphs, or illustrations behind the doors.

 Staggered booklets are great for studying a topic more in-depth. 

 Have students put 2 or more parts together to find a bigger concept. This can be as simple as compound words or as complex as understanding the words of the Preamble!

 Loving these mini-books!

 Cover portions of an information table with flaps. This is a great way for students to study and review.

You can see why I am flipping for flippables and foldables! My fifth grade students really do love using them, and they beat old-fashioned note-taking any day of the week!

If you are interested in any of my Social Studies Interactive Notebook Units shown in the pictures above, you can find them all right HERE at my TpT Store!

One of my favorite Social Studies units is my

Colonial America Geography Interactive Notebook.

Thanks and Happy Folding!

Shelly Rees

Comprehension for Beginning Readers

Teaching students to comprehend during/after reading doesn't always have to be a quiz or written responses. The idea of comprehension is simply to process what they are reading and understand it. Even the earliest of readers can start to show comprehension skills, even it's just with drawings. The importance of teaching comprehension is so students understand what they just read, and they aren't just reading word without putting meaning behind them. 

Even at the beginning of Kindergarten, we start working on comprehension skills. For my higher academic students, we use this Decode & Draw worksheet bundle which have students read the simple word and then draw a picture to match. My goal is to see if students are able to know what that word means they just read. These worksheets are differentiated with 2 versions: words or simple sentences. 

These Cut & Comprehend worksheets are similar and differentiated as well, but students have to cut & paste the words to match the picture.  I told the students that if they couldn't read the word, then they could look at the beginning sound to give them a clue. I made both of these bundles with 2 versions for every month of the year. I can throw these in centers and students will know what to do with this activity all year long! 

Really Good Stuff sells these beach balls that are a fun way to work on comprehension after a read aloud. Throw the ball to a student, have them pick a question and respond to the answer. It's a fun way to engage students, as well as see who was not only listening to your read aloud, but also was processing what you were reading.

Once we start getting our book baskets and attempting to do picture walks and read words, I use these Interactive Reading Responses. Since not all students are on the same level, I can differentiate the pages each students gets and whether they draw or write out their answers. I worked with this student 1 on 1 to discuss the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". He understood the idea of sequencing, but isn't quite ready to write sentences or words yet. I told him he could illustrate what happened in the book and tell me about it when he was finished. Can you tell the letters are falling out of the bent tree...so cute!

The story starter pages in this bundle come with dotted lines and regular lines, depending on what your students need. In the past at my listening center, students would just write and draw about their favorite part. These responses get the students to think more about the book and find ways to connect to what they read. 

 

Here are a few more examples of the interactive pages. Having these fun response sheets available will make your students pay more attention to these skills during their story.

There are over over 20 pages of reading responses to help your students work on comprehending what they read. You can find this bundle in my TPT store here.