Build Your Classroom Reading Community this Spring
The year is winding down. Have you started planning your end of year activities yet? This has been a crazy year (or…three years), so I want to do everything I can to keep your end of year planning and prep SIMPLE. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing ideas that can make your end of year more seamless!
One of my favorite things about the end of year is the slower pace. It gives me time to work on things that I love! One of the things I LOVE doing in the spring is to build as much of a reading community for my students as possible. I want to encourage as much summer reading as I can, so we read our hearts out the last weeks of school…and we have a blast doing it!
Why do we need reading communities?
Studies show that students engaged in social reading activities read more independently. Separate studies show that the more independent reading students do, the more they will grow. So, when we can get our students talking and sharing about their reading, we build reading habits for them. Those reading habits carry over into their personal lives. That personal reading promotes growth! It’s a win all around. Let’s look at some great social reading activities you can try this spring!
Reading Recommendation Station
Create a place for students to recommend books for others to see! I love using an interactive bulletin board for this. Students can fill out one of the paper book recommendation pages whenever they finish a book they really love. You can choose to have them share with the class before placing it on the board, or simply let them cover the board with their recommendations throughout the year. I also like to let students stick a sticky note on the cover of a book before they put it back in the classroom library! Then, when another friend chooses the same book, they can see that it was recommended by someone in the class. This is a great way to start discussions about books. Grab my Good Reads bulletin board kit here.
Book Clubs
Book clubs are the ideal way to build a reading community, because students are reading TOGETHER. Shared reading experiences bond students together. They will discuss the parts they loved, found funny, found sad, disliked, etc. Nothing is more social than that! I have a book club pack that gives students a step-by-step guide to managing behavior and workload during book club meetings. Grab it here!
Write Author Fan Mail
When you share your ‘favorite’ in any category…how does it make you feel? Don’t you get excited to share your favorites with others? Give your students this experience by having them write fan mail to their favorite author! You can actually mail (or email) their writing to the authors, if possible. Or simply share in class with each other! Either way, you will build investment in your students around their writing and reading! Grab this writing project here!