Engaging students in authentic conversations about books is a passion for Carolyn of Middle School Café. In traditional oral book reports, students simply get up in front of the class and read a summary of the book they read. Carolyn found this method of oral book reports painful for both her and her students.
Journey Box Book Reports have been successful for Carolyn in both her middle school and high school classrooms. She does suggest, if using Journey Boxes in older grades, to have students share their stories in small groups.
Book Report Projects For High School
Katie from Mochas and Markbooks loves to use collages as visual representations of comprehension. After reading a novel or short story, creating a character collage to show how a character has evolved from beginning to end requires students to use higher order thinking skills to analyze, synthesize and demonstrate their understanding of characterization by dividing their page in half and choosing words and images to represent the character at the start and conclusion of the story on each side.
Tired of the same old book report formats? Do your students grumble every time you mention the words book reports? Spice up those old book reports with some new, creative ideas. Education World presents 25 ideas for you to use or adapt. In addition: Ideas for cyber book reports!
The teacher commissioned a friend to draw slices of ham, tomato, and Swiss cheese; lettuce leaves; a layer of mayonnaise, and a couple of slices of bread. Then she photocopied the drawings onto appropriately colored sheets of paper -- ham on pink, tomato on red, Swiss cheese on yellow, etc. The sheets served as the ingredients for her students' book report sandwiches.
Laura Hayden was looking for something to liven up book report writing for her students at Derby (Kansas) Middle School. One day, while exploring postings to the MiddleWeb Listserv, Hayden found an idea that filled the bill! Hayden challenged her students to be creative with the "Book in a..." idea, which she posted to her school's Web page.
After choosing and reading a book, each student selected a book report container. The container could be a plastic bag, a manila envelope, a can, or anything else that might be appropriate for a book. Students decorated their containers to convey some of the major details, elements, or themes found in the books.
Create a Card Catalog. After reading a book, a student completes an index card with information about the book. The front of the card includes details such as title, author, and date published along with a two- to three-sentence synopsis of the book. On the back of the card, the student writes a paragraph critiquing the book. Students might even rate the book using a teacher-created five-star rating system. Example: A five-star book is "highly recommended; a book you can't put down." Completed cards are kept in a card file near the classroom bookshelf or in the school library.
In the News. Each student creates the front page of a newspaper that tells about events and characters in a book just read. The newspaper page might include weather reports, an editorial or editorial cartoon, ads, etc. The title of the newspaper should be something appropriate to the book.
Prove It in Five Minutes. Each student gives a 150-second (2-minute) oral presentation in which he or she shares information about a book's plot and characters. The student closes the presentation by offering an opinion and recommendation about the book. Then students in the audience have 150 seconds to question the presenter about the book. If the presenter is able to prove in five minutes that he or she read the book, the student is excused from filing a written report about it.
Theme Report. Challenge each student to select a concept or a thing from the book just finished and to use library or Internet resources to explore it further. The student then writes a two-page report that shares information about the topic.
This is a super simple idea that is quite fun for students. Provide each student with a lunch-sized paper bag. Tell them to think about 5 objects that relate to the main character of their book. The objects have to be small enough to fit into the bag. Send the bags home and have students place the 5 objects in the bag and bring them back to school. On the day they are due, have students take turns sharing the objects in their bags and explaining how they relate to the main character of the book. You can even make a great display with the bags, objects, and books to pique the interest of other students.
you need are two file folders, some cardstock or construction paper, scissors, glue, and the FREE book report template found here. The finished products are quite amazing, and your students will probably keep theirs forever! Check out my photo tutorial for making a lap book.
This might be the easiest option of the book report ideas. Have students first sketch their posters on a sheet of notebook paper. Then, provide students with a large piece of poster paper or chart paper. Posters must identify main characters, setting, title, problem, and solution. Display finished posters in the classroom or on hallway walls.
Use NO PREP book report templates to save your sanity AND to keep things fun for your students. You could print out all 12 templates in this Book Report Templates Packet and let students choose the one they want to do each month! There is even a really nice digital option for Google classroom included!
I wanted to take a moment to tell you about six of my favorite creative project alternatives to the book report. Each of these project-based assignments will prompt students to dive deeper into the literary elements of any novel or short story.
Then, I get students to review their own speech and practice its delivery before seeking out peer feedback. I have students work on their enunciation as well as body language, eye contact, pace, etc. This book report alternative will help your students dive deeper into their story in a creative way while also helping them develop their oral speaking skills!
Once the story has been re-written, it is time for students to analyze how the object might interpret the thing as well as how the changed point of view adds suspense or humor. This is one of my favorite creative book report alternatives. It makes for a great read-aloud assignment where students can share their writing.
In this last book report alternative, students will win a trip to the setting of their story. After learning how to do so, they will write online reviews of the setting. These reviews will be written from the perspectives of three characters in the text. Students will also need to leave their own comments underneath each travel review, sharing how each one helped them to better understand the setting as well as the character who wrote it.
There you have it! I hope that you found these ideas helpful. These creative book report alternatives are sure to inspire your students to dig deeper into their texts. You can get a ready-to-use resource bundle for every assignment mentioned above here.
Book reports may be a staple of elementary and middle school education, but they are far less frequently assigned in the higher grades. High school ELA teacher Nancy Barile thinks that should change. Students in 6th grade and above can learn a lot when they are challenged to use higher order thinking skills to understand and interpret the literature they read via a good old-fashioned high school book report template.
I will require my ELA students to complete one book report project per quarter. Below is the list of due dates, genres, guidelines, and project options and checklists. STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO ALWAYS HAVE A LIBRARY BOOK FOR FREE READING TIME.
We have even more creative book reports from 4d trioramas to pizza book reports, book report flaps to lapbooks, sandwich book reports and more! Which ones of these 5th grade book report ideas is your favorite?
No need to dread a book report! When kids find titles that are engaging, interesting, and thought-provoking, they're hooked. If it's fiction, students can dissect plot, theme, and characters. If it's nonfiction, they can plunge into a subject that fascinates them or learn a lot about something they've never heard of before. Here's a list of surefire selections for students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. For even more ideas, check out our Essential Books Guide and 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12.
Write better book reports using the tips, examples, and outlines presented here. This resource covers three types of effective book reports: plot summaries, character analyses, and theme analyses. It also features many specific examples of how to structure each type of report.
Book reviews can take on many different forms. Three types of effective book reports are plot summaries, character analyses, and theme analyses. Writing a book review helps you practice giving your opinion about different aspects of a book, such as an author's use of description or dialogue. You can write book reports of any type, from fiction to non-fiction research papers, or essay writing; however, there are a few basic elements you need to include in order to convey why the book you read was interesting when writing a good book report.
When you are writing a plot summary for your book report you don't want to simply summarize the story. You need to explain what your opinion is of the story and why you feel the plot is so compelling, unrealistic, or sappy. It is the way you analyze the plot that will make this a good report. Make sure that you use plenty of examples from the book to support your opinions. Try starting the report with a sentence similar to the following:
Exploring the themes (or big ideas that run throughout the story) in a book can be a great way to write a book report because picking a theme that you care about can make the report easier to write. Try bringing some of your thoughts and feelings as a reader into the report as a way to show the power of a theme. Before you discuss your own thoughts, however, be sure to establish what the theme is and how it appears in the story. 2ff7e9595c
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