Book Reports For Your Classroom
I have a confession to make…. I LOVE reading! It’s such an escape for me.
Reading also has a ton of benefits for our students.
In fact, reading can be one of the most magical things in a student’s life. When students learn to read, worlds open up around them.
Students who read can travel to King Arthur’s court, the house of George Washington Carver, or even the wide world of outer space.
As Ernest Hemingway said, “There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
As I love to read and have many fond memories of books from childhood, it makes sense that read-aloud time was one of my favorite things in the classroom.
Encourage Students to Read Different Genres
I’ve read so many different books over the years in my classroom, fiction and nonfiction, mystery, fantasy, and more. I am a huge advocate for selecting read alouds from various genres - especially nonfiction, as many students avoid those books.
When it was time for a new read-aloud, I often let students suggest books and the class voted on them. Other times, I picked books from a specific genre and had the class pick from those.
Each year, I tried to read two nonfiction books. I had a selection of topics I really enjoyed - and new students liked them as well once we got into them.
A trick for nonfiction, especially in upper elementary, is to realize that you can skim some parts and skip others. The topics can get pretty nitty-gritty sometimes, and kids get bogged down in the details. If you pre-read the book, you get a good idea of which parts you can skim through.
Nonfiction and Fiction Genre Book Reports
To encourage my students to “test-drive” different genres, I created many different book reports to go along with those books. When I assigned a book report, I selected the genre but allowed students to select the book they read. I gave students time in class to read and work on the projects.
When the projects were complete, I had students share them in class to practice public speaking and listening. They summarized the book and gave their review. I selected two students to ask a question (if anyone had questions.)
I recently updated my original book reports. They include all the printable pages needed to complete the project:
genre summary page
assignment directions
student checklist
rubric
project templates (if any)
Each project focuses on a specific genre, and all projects are different from the others.
If teachers prefer to have students choose any book, they can print the correct genre report for each student - or have copies of them in a center for students to take.
