Five ways to make reading fun will have your students begging for more! Making reading more engaging is benificial for all students. Sometimes your struggling readers need a little boost to get them involved.
Who doesn’t love partner reading? I know my students get excited when I let them choose a partner. I don’t always let them choose their partner. Sometimes it is good to know someone else. I just love this when we do this at our professional development. (not really)
Sometimes you have to pair up readers at different levels. It is nice if they have the same text. You can use Read Works to do partner reading. They have a wide range of topics. In my class, some of the topics we have read about our animals, science, and holidays.
Let’s have some more fun! Toward the end of the school year my students would get antsy during independent reading time. So, I bought little plastic glasses for them to read during this time. I made a big deal out of these and said they had “special reading glasses.” Everyone was excited and they got to choose their color. It’s a cheap and easy way to build some excitement.
Ever go outside and read? It can be so relaxing. This is another fun reading idea to use in your classroom or maybe I should say outside your classroom. Get your students excited by telling them they will be reading outside. Of course make sure it is a nice day and it is ok with your principal. Have students take their books outside and find a nice quiet spot to sit and read. They will love it!
What else can make reading fun? Turn out the lights and give students flashlights to read with. It is just like when you read ghost stories as a kid. Getting a flashlight for each student may be costly. I have just the thing that makes it cheap and the students like it better. They are little clip lights they can use to read. They can shine them on the words and read away! How fun is that?
Do you like to snack while you watch tv? I do! This is a great way to teach students about visualizing the stories in their heads. Tell them it is just like when you watch a movie but, now you are making the movie in your head. Then ask then what do you have at the moves? Popcorn! Give them a bag of popcorn to eat while they read their favorite book. It is just like you are at the movies!
Just remember these fun reading ideas to use all year! Even your most reluctant readers will want to read. Soon the students will be asking you when is it reading time. These activities can be used as rewards or just as motivation for reading. I even let the student choose the activities once we have done all of them. They love them all and have a hard time choosing.
Grade School Suzy