Eat your greens... the fun way

In all likelihood, you know of a child who would stand to gain, if only he or she read more. We all know the benefits of reading extensively, the way we are familiar with the benefits of eating our greens. Does motivating children to read have to be as tiresome as trying to get them to eat their greens? Neither has to be, when we make it lip-smackingly fun for them.

I came across some simple strategies teachers can use for motivating children to read that I'd like to share. These would be great additions to your classroom toolkit.

The researchers who recommended these strategies conducted conversational interviews with children to understand their thoughts on what would make them want to read. What did they find?

Children want to select their own texts
Children can be motivated by characteristics of books
Children want to read books connected to their personal interests
Children can be motivated by teachers, peers, and members of their family to read

The strategies below are part of recommendations based on these principles. If you'd like to read further, the details of the article are at the end of the entry.

  

Three-Piece Kits  Teachers can assemble sets of books on the same topic, each comprising a narrative, an information book, and a poem. This is an excellent way to introduce other genres to children who might otherwise restrict themselves only to a single genre. An example would be the triad of Tales for Very Picky Eaters' by Josh Schneider, Michael Rosen's Chocolate Cake, and Mollie Katzen's Pretend Food on a food theme.  

Librarians Unleashed In this activity, the books read by students during sustained silent reading in a month are made into a pile. Students then get to play librarian and sort the books into categories they can create themselves, such as Books that taught me something new or Books that made me laugh. These can then be put according to category in the classroom library. Students could then pick books according to the categories in subsequent sustained silent reading sessions.  

Genre Gurus This is a genre-specific book club, where members of the club read different books of the same genre, such as mysteries. During book club discussions they could discuss how their books shared characteristics of the genre.  

Rotating Special Book Collection Displays This could be according to season, or according to theme. Around Chinese New Year, for example, there could be a display of information books on the holiday and about China, and narrative books set around the holiday. Such as this great collection here.  

License to Look This is simply a library pass, awarded to students who complete their seat work before the assigned time.  

Take-Home Literacy Bags. These are kits where books are paired with crafts, reading activities, or games related to the book, given to students to bring home to complete with their parents or caregivers.  

Critic's Chair Students could be offered the chance to share their opinion of a book they read in front of the whole class. A variation could be where two students share opposing views of a book.  

Reading Tips in the E-mail Send a bi-weekly reading tip to parents via email or as a bulletin which students bring home. A tip could be as simple as this: before reading the book with your child, ask him or her to predict what he or she thinks the book will be about. Halfway through the book, talk about whether any changes need to be made to the prediction made.  

Book Swaps Students bring used books into class. Books are pooled, and students get to pick a book brought in by their classmate in exchange for the one they gave up. 

Quotable Quips This could be combined with Book Swaps, or used in any activity involving getting students to share books with one another. Before sharing their book, students write (on a post-it) a one-sentence comment on the book, in the style of a blurb, and stick this inside the front cover for the next reader. Students can then read what their peers when making their book selections. Be sure, though, to show students suitable examples, and provide sentence starters for those who might need them. 

Ideas adapted slightly from Edmunds, K. & Bauserman, K. (2006). What teachers can learn about reading motivation through conversations with children. The Reading Teacher, 49(5), 414-424.