Activities for Books # 3
- Give an oral summary of the book.
- Give a written summary of the book.
- Tell about the most interesting part of the book.
- Write about the most interesting part of the book.
- Tell about the most important part of the book.
- Write about the most interesting part of the book.
- Read the interesting parts aloud.
- Write about a character you liked or disliked.
- Write a dramatization of a certain episode.
- Demonstrate something you learned.
- Make a peep box of the most important part.
- Paint a mural of the story or parts of it.
- Paint a watercolor picture.
- Make a book jacket with an inside summary.
- Make a scale model of an important object.
- Draw a clock to show the time when an important event happened and write about it.
- Write another ending for the story.
- Make up a lost or found ad for a person or object in the story.
- Make up a picture story of the most important part.
- Draw a picture story of the most important part.
- Compare this book with another you have read on a similar subject.
- Write a movie script of the story.
- Gather a collection of objects described in the book.
- Draw or paint pictures of the main characters.
- Make a list of words and definitions important to the story.
- Make a 3-D scene.
- Create a puppet show.
- Make a poster to advertise the book.
- Give a pantomime of an important part.
- Use a map or time-line to show routes or times.
- Make a map showing where the story took place.
- Tell about the author or illustrator.
- Make a flannel board story.
- Make a mobile using a coat hanger.
- Give a chalk talk about the book.
- Do a science experiment associated with the reading.
- Tape record a summary and play it back for the class.
- Make a diorama.
- Make a seed mosaic picture.
- Make a scroll picture.
- Do a soap carving of a character or animal from the story.
- Make a balsa wood carving of a character or animal from the story.
- Make stand-up characters.
- Make a poem about the story.
- Write a book review.
- Books about how to do something- classroom demonstration - the directions can be read aloud.
- Write the pros and cons (opinion) of a book after careful study.
- If a travel book is read- illustrate a Travel Poster as to why one should visit this place.
- A vivid oral or written description of an interesting character.
- Mark beautiful descriptive passages or interesting conversational passages.
- Tell a story with a musical accompaniment.
- Make a list of new and unusual words and expressions.
- A pantomime acted out for a guessing game.
- Write a letter to a friend about the book.
- Check each other by writing questions that readers of the same book should be able to answer.
- Make a time-line for a historical book.
- Broadcast a book review over the schools PA system.
- Research and tell a brief biography about the author.
- Make models of things read about in the book.
- Make a colorful mural depicting the book.
- A picture or caption about laughter for humorous books.
- Compare one book with a similar book.
- Think of a new adventure for the main character.
- Write a script for an interview with the main character.
- Retell the story to a younger grade.
- Choral reading with poetry.
- Adding original stanzas to poetry.
- Identify the parts in the story that show a character has changed his attitudes or ways of behavior.
- Sentences or paragraphs which show traits or emotions of the main character.
- Parts of the story which compare the actions of two or more characters.
- A part that describes a person, place or thing.
- A part of the story that you think could not have really happened.
- A part that proves a personal opinion that you hold.
- A part which you believe is the climax of the story.
- The conversation between two characters.
- Pretend you are the main character and retell the story.
- Work with a small group of students. Plan for one to read orally while the others pantomime the action.
- Write a letter to one of the characters.
- Write a biographical sketch of one character. Fill in what you don't find in the text using your own imagination.
- Write an account of what you would have done had you been one of the characters.
- Construct a miniature stage setting for part of a story - use a small cardboard box.
- Children enjoy preparing a monologue from a story.
- Marking particularly descriptive passages for oral reading gives the reader and his audience an opportunity to appreciate excellent writing, and gives them a chance to improve their imagery and enlarge their vocabulary.
- The child who likes to make lists of new unusual and interesting words and expressions to add to his vocabulary might share such a list with others, using them in the context of the story.
- Giving a synopsis of a story is an excellent way of gaining experience in arranging events in sequences and learning how a story progresses to a climax.
- Using information in a book to make a scrapbook about the subject.
- A puppet show planned to illustrate the story.
- Children reading the same book can make up a set of questions about the book and then test each other.
- Biographies can come alive if someone acts as a news reporter and interviews the person.
- Preparing a book review to present to a class at a lower level is an excellent experience in story- telling and gives children an understanding of how real authors must work to prepare books for children.
- Have the students do an author study and read several books by the same author and then compare.
- Cutting a piece of paper in the form of a large thumbnail and placing it on the bulletin board with the caption Thumbnail Sketches and letting the children put up drawings about the books they've read.
- Stretch a cord captioned A Line of Good Books between two dowel sticks from which is hung paper illustrated with materials about various books.
- Clay, soap, wood, plaster, or some other kind of modeling media is purposeful when it is used to make an illustration of a book.
- Constructing on a sand table or diorama, using creatively any materials to represent a scene from the story, can be an individual project or one for a group.
- A bulletin board with a caption about laughter or a picture of someone laughing at excerpts from funny stories rewritten by the children from material in humorous books.
- Visiting the children's room at the public library and telling the librarian in person about the kinds of books the children would like to have in the library.
- Video tape oral book reports and then have the children take turns taking the video home for all to share.
- Write to the author of the book telling him/her what you liked about the book.
- Be Book Report Pen Pals and share book reports with children in another school.