Something NEW to VIEW! A $600 Giveaway!

     I am excited be teaming up with The Teacher Studio (along with many, many other bloggers) to bring you an AMAZING giveaway. You can enter for FIVE, yes 5 days to enter for amazing prizes!

     Before your click on over to enter the giveaway, I hope you will take a peek at my new Time Saver Book Report. 

     I created this resource for some fellow teachers at my school who were feed up with a majority of their students not completing and submitting a project for their book report, not to mention the 1-3 days of reading time it was taking to present said book reports. They wanted something engaging, timely, and concise.

     Enter the Time Saver Book Report Project. This project allows you to create and present book reports in about 60 minutes. Yup, in ONE reading class period, your students should be able to create AND share their book report projects. With two different formats, AND two suggested formats for presentations, this might just be the best thing that has happened to you so far this school year.

Included in the Time Saver Book Report is:

-Two different project sheets

-Two different participant logs (where students must record information about each book that is presented in the small group setting, or nine of their classmates books in the gallery walk option).

-Teacher Directions and Suggestions for Use.

Get it now for only $2.50 in one of my many shops.

Now, get on over to The Teacher Studio and enter for a chance to WIN BIG! WAHOO!

Cheers-
Mr. Hughes

Book Reports As You Never Seen Before!

If you are like me, I am always looking for new and interactive ways to make book reports/literature responses (what ever name you call them) more engaging for my students.

This is the very reason that I created my Book Report Menu Kit. It provides a way for students to have choice EVERY month/quarter (the kit provides a format for both).

In that kit there is an option for "Other" where the students can design their own project. I have had some pretty amazing projects submitted over the years under the "other" section. This got me to thinking about a fun idea that I have been kicking around in my head for some time.

What if I turned one of my popular dodecahedron kits into a book report format. Hmmmm....
How would my students react to having to do 12 mini-projects (these are 6th graders mind you).

Would it be too much (dare I say it) WORK (heaven forbid)?
Overwhelming?
Take too long?
Too cheesy?
Too cutesy?

Undeterred by the prospect of critical feedback (my students are none to shy on sharing their feelings about projects/assignments- they are 6th graders after all!) I started putting together ideas on paper.

This spurred me into action and thus my Book Report Dodecahedron Kit was born. Creating it was the "easy" part. Now to get my students to buy into it.

Well, let me tell you.

We had just completed my Christmas Dodecahedron Project and I thought for sure they would balk at having to do another dodecahedron... boy was I wrong.

I am not sure what magical power a dodecahedron has, but my students never seem to tire of them. This was the 4th one we have made this year and they were still excited. Here a few shots of my kiddo working on them:

 I loved that they had to do a lot of little projects that didn't, according to them, feel overwhelming. I will say that it took about 3-4 days of 45-60 minutes each day to complete. This was the week for before winter break so there was flexibility, but, if it were to be sent home, I would totally have sent it home in small chunks, or used it as a "read-aloud time" work on project, or both. Another thought I had was to have them work on it throughout reading their book. That way it is spread out over the month and very easy to do.

Now... keeping track of all the pieces might be a different story, but I also thought about having them turn in each circle as it is completed. That way I could grade each piece at a time, and then I wouldn't be left with a HUGE pile of dodecahedrons to try and grade after presentations. That part I REALLY like!

 One of my favorite parts is having them hang around the room/hallway. They are just eye-catching, and I find that students are always under them trying to see/read what they say.

When I have sent home my dodecahedrons in the past, I just sent a note saying that if a parent wanted to keep it for a memory book, to simply remove the staples/carefully separate each tab and then you have a "booklet" of 12 circles. Easy Peasy.

Wahoo! Another successful project!

I hope this post will inspire YOU to try something new and brave in this new year. Give you and your students a NEW BEGINNING!

Good Luck and Happy New Year!

-MrHughes

P.S. If you are interested in looking at my book Report Dodecahedron Kit, click HERE or on the picture below:

Guiding Those Book Reports...

I know for me in MY classroom, book report presentations became dull and lacked focus. No matter HOW hard I tried to explain to my students what they needed to do, they seemed to fall back into the same old habits!

This prompted me to create THIS:

A book report presentation outline. I wanted them to have the expectations from the beginning of the month until the end when they present.

It almost seemed like TOO easy of a fix. But, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. I typed up what I had been saying for over two months, handed it out, went over it with my students. Next, I informed them that the requirements found on the outline would now be incorporated into their book report grade. I also encouraged the students to read over the outline several times with a parent/family member so that they could help them as well.

Well, I am pleased to report that the quality of the presentations did increase. Students seem to better focus on what was expected, and the motivation of the new grading component didn't hurt either. It would be simple to assume that the grade "threat" is the real motivator, but I will rebut that with the artifact that several of my students who seemed to really care less about their grades, did infact, have better, more focused presentations.

So, how do you get your hands on this resource? Easy!

I have decided to make this a FREE resource available for all teachers/home schoolers. To collect your FREE item, click HERE to go to my TeachersPayTeachers store and click on the "Download" button. Simple, secure, and speedy!

Also, remember to click on the FOLLOW ME button while you are there to be notified of other resources you're bound to love.

Later...