As World Book Day approaches, here are some great ideas, lesson plans and teaching resources to get your students excited about reading
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| Celebrate World Book Day 2014 with a selection of teaching resources to inspire children to read. Photograph: VisitBritain/Pawel Libera/Getty Images. |
World Book Day is a fabulous opportunity to get young people excited about reading.
This year's event takes place on Thursday 6 March, and the aim – as always – is to celebrate the power of storytelling and inspire a lifelong love of books.
If you are wondering how to get involved, look no further than the Guardian Teacher Network where you will find a range of resources to get your classroom buzzing.
Jump right in with a set of activity packs for nursery, primary and secondary schools. Created by the organisers of World Book Day, they are full of reading-themed ideas. For pre-school children, try acting out a favourite story or making a picture book of children's drawings. Primary students might enjoy organising a book swap or holding a pyjama party to discuss their favourite bedtime books. Secondary pupils could have a book election to find their year group's three favourite books of all time, or they could organise a sponsored "read-a-thon".
There are lots of additional resources on the World Book Day website including assembly plans, posters, dressing up ideas and quizzes about World Book Day's featured authors and illustrators (and their books, available for £1). They are: David Melling, Hello, Hugless Douglas!; Emily Gravett, Little Book Day Parade; Jim Smith, I Am Not a Loser; Jill Murphy, Fun with the Worst Witch; Lauren St John, The Midnight Picnic: A Laura Marlin Mystery; Terry Deary and Martin Brown, Horrible Histories: Terrible Trenches; James Patterson, Middle School: How I Got Lost in London; Sarah Lean, Jack Pepper; Robert Muchamore, Rock War: The Audition; and Maureen Johnson, The Boy in the Smoke.
For more ideas check out this activity pack created for World Book Day by The Reading Agency. It features book-themed ideas that are adaptable for use with a range of ages from nursery to secondary school. These include: making a scrapbook about a favourite book and turning it into a PowerPoint presentation, devising a book quiz, or playing a game of guess the book charades. There are activity and discussion ideas about all 10 of the World Book Day 2014 books (listed above) and tips for running children's reading clubs.
For an alternative way of encouraging secondary students to engage with reading, challenge them to create a book trailer for World Book Day by using this resource pack from the Scottish Book Trust. It takes students through the process, focusing on the critical thinking and decision-making skills that are necessary to make an effective trailer. The pack includes details of the tools, software and ICT skills that are required, pupil worksheets, assessment templates and links to other useful resources.
To decorate your classroom for World Book Day, Twinkl has a range of resources for primary schools including a display banner, page borders, a poster about how to pick a book, and large letters that spell out the words "reading area". There is also a book review worksheet and writing template.
Writing a book review is the focus of this lesson for students aged 11-14. The aim is to write a critical review of a substantial text, taking account of the context in which it was written and the likely impact on its intended readers. There is also a reflective writing task in the form of a book review which encourages students to write about a text, taking account of the needs of others who might read it.
For more reading-themed resources, see the Guardian article How to teach … reading for pleasure. It includes tips on shared reading between older and younger pupils and advice on setting up a reading group for teenagers. Further strategies to engage pupils with reading will be explored at the Guardian Education Centre's full-day conference about reading for pleasure on Thursday 20 March 2014.
And finally, for the ultimate inspiration on what to read, send students to the Guardian Children's Books site where they'll find fantastic reviews and recommendations for books written by their peers.
This year's event takes place on Thursday 6 March, and the aim – as always – is to celebrate the power of storytelling and inspire a lifelong love of books.
If you are wondering how to get involved, look no further than the Guardian Teacher Network where you will find a range of resources to get your classroom buzzing.
Jump right in with a set of activity packs for nursery, primary and secondary schools. Created by the organisers of World Book Day, they are full of reading-themed ideas. For pre-school children, try acting out a favourite story or making a picture book of children's drawings. Primary students might enjoy organising a book swap or holding a pyjama party to discuss their favourite bedtime books. Secondary pupils could have a book election to find their year group's three favourite books of all time, or they could organise a sponsored "read-a-thon".
There are lots of additional resources on the World Book Day website including assembly plans, posters, dressing up ideas and quizzes about World Book Day's featured authors and illustrators (and their books, available for £1). They are: David Melling, Hello, Hugless Douglas!; Emily Gravett, Little Book Day Parade; Jim Smith, I Am Not a Loser; Jill Murphy, Fun with the Worst Witch; Lauren St John, The Midnight Picnic: A Laura Marlin Mystery; Terry Deary and Martin Brown, Horrible Histories: Terrible Trenches; James Patterson, Middle School: How I Got Lost in London; Sarah Lean, Jack Pepper; Robert Muchamore, Rock War: The Audition; and Maureen Johnson, The Boy in the Smoke.
For more ideas check out this activity pack created for World Book Day by The Reading Agency. It features book-themed ideas that are adaptable for use with a range of ages from nursery to secondary school. These include: making a scrapbook about a favourite book and turning it into a PowerPoint presentation, devising a book quiz, or playing a game of guess the book charades. There are activity and discussion ideas about all 10 of the World Book Day 2014 books (listed above) and tips for running children's reading clubs.
For an alternative way of encouraging secondary students to engage with reading, challenge them to create a book trailer for World Book Day by using this resource pack from the Scottish Book Trust. It takes students through the process, focusing on the critical thinking and decision-making skills that are necessary to make an effective trailer. The pack includes details of the tools, software and ICT skills that are required, pupil worksheets, assessment templates and links to other useful resources.
To decorate your classroom for World Book Day, Twinkl has a range of resources for primary schools including a display banner, page borders, a poster about how to pick a book, and large letters that spell out the words "reading area". There is also a book review worksheet and writing template.
Writing a book review is the focus of this lesson for students aged 11-14. The aim is to write a critical review of a substantial text, taking account of the context in which it was written and the likely impact on its intended readers. There is also a reflective writing task in the form of a book review which encourages students to write about a text, taking account of the needs of others who might read it.
For more reading-themed resources, see the Guardian article How to teach … reading for pleasure. It includes tips on shared reading between older and younger pupils and advice on setting up a reading group for teenagers. Further strategies to engage pupils with reading will be explored at the Guardian Education Centre's full-day conference about reading for pleasure on Thursday 20 March 2014.
And finally, for the ultimate inspiration on what to read, send students to the Guardian Children's Books site where they'll find fantastic reviews and recommendations for books written by their peers.
