7 Ideas to Celebrate Reading Week with Upper Elementary

When March rolls around, it means one thing...time to celebrate all things reading!

Whether you celebrate Reading Day, Read Across America Day, or Reading month at your school, I have some simple and fun ways to make celebrating reading with your upper elementary students a week to remember!

By March, my students definitely have come to learn how much I love reading aloud, sharing my favorite books, and how much value I place on reading and reading instruction. Even though reading is always an important part of our day, I love to set aside classroom time for special books, projects, and activities during our Reading Week.

Here are 7 easy-to-implement ideas that will make a BIG impact on your students as they reflect on themselves as readers during your reading celebrations.

 1. Celebrate your students' favorite books with a poster!

I love sharing my favorite books, heck I share a favorite picture book each week, but when do your students get to celebrate their favorite books? Grab this FREE download and have your students reflect on their favorite book that they just loved! It can be a book they just finished reading or one they read last year that they still think about. Use this free book share page to allow students to get creative about their all-time favorite book. These also make a great bulletin board display for the hallway so that your students can inspire other readers in your school!

And don't forget to share about your favorite book, too! It can be from your own childhood, something you are currently reading, a book handed down from a family member, a cookbook, or a chapter book you love to read each year with your students. This allows your students to get a peek into your own reading life, too and they just love it!

2. Share your favorite read-aloud book about...READING!

What is more fun than reading a book about reading!? Especially during reading week! Read about my favorite picture books that celebrate reading and readers. These picture books are great kick-offs to discussions about the kinds of books your students like, where they like to read, and how important picking the perfect book really is! 

Read the blog post: 7 Must Read Picture Books to Celebrate Reading and Readers

3. Have a reading challenge this month!

I love individual reading challenges! They are so motivating for the students! Use this FREE reading challenge to hold your students responsible for reading a certain amount of books or pages this month to celebrate reading! Your students will LOVE keeping track of what they read and coloring in the books on the shelf. These are perfect for school or as an at-home connection activity. Since it is easy to manage it is a win-win for both students and teachers! 

4. Create Student Reader Cards

My students always wow me with their work when completing this reader card project! Students create a self-portrait, complete their reading stats, work on reading goals, and then recommend a book! I love how these turn out when displayed on our bulletin board and it always ends up being my kids' favorite project of the year!

5. Watch a book and dive deep into the plot!

I love reading a good picture book to students, but sometimes changing things up a bit to hold students' attention spans is a must! That is why when I need a change, but still want to share a meaningful book, I head on over to Storyline Online and we watch a book! I love posing a question before pressing play to give students a focus as they watch and listen. During the video, they jot down ideas that they have that correlate with the question so that they are prepared for the discussion we have after the video. Because there are so many books to pick from on this free site, you can pick the book and question that meets the needs of your own students and relates to what you are learning as readers.

6. Get weekly book talks going! 

I love going beyond just sharing students' favorite books with book talks! These persuasive speech activities are just what your students need to practice their reading, persuasive writing, and speaking skills.

There are so many benefits of holding weekly book talks in your classroom and they are perfect for all year long, not just during Book Week celebrations! 

By bringing book talks into your classroom you are encouraging your students to:

• Read a variety of books, genres, and authors
• Recommend books to their peers
• Engage in meaningful discourse about books
• Practice persuasive writing skills
• Strengthen speaking and listening skills
• Participate in group discussions regularly and appropriately
• Prepare, practice, and deliver a presentation

Read the blog post about book talks here: Get Started with Book Talks

7. Share words of wisdom to inspire readers!

Nothing is more powerful than words of wisdom for young readers that they can take with them that will motivate them even when you are not around! I love displaying reading quotes all year long in our reading corner to motivate and inspire my budding readers. 

To give students an extra dose of motivation, I print these reading posters four to a page to create instant note cards. I use these cards to celebrate students during reading and motivate those who may need a little push. These cards are perfect to share out during Reading Day or Week.

When it comes to celebrating reading this month or anytime, make it BIG! The bigger the better! Better memories you make with your students about reading and the bigger impact you have on how important reading each day really is! Remember, grab YOUR favorite book, celebrate your students' favorite books, and create an inspirational display to celebrate reading and motivate your students! 

Happy Reading Week!

You will also love reading:

Reading Strategies To Grow Strong Readers

Highly Effective Strategies to Kick off Reading Workshop

Engaging Students to Read a Variety of Genres

7 Picture Books to Celebrate Reading

Check out my favorite reading activities HERE.

and be sure to display these

 Motivational Reading Posters:

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Must Try Tip to Encourage Students to Read a Variety of Genres

One goal I always have for my students each year is to help them grow as readers who love to read a variety of books, reading genres, series, and authors.

I spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year going over our classroom library, explaining how to find and borrow books, and sharing different reading genres with my budding readers. Young readers are often limited to levels books, books that they see displayed, or books that they see friends and family reading. It is our job as reading teachers to expose our growing readers to a wide range of books to read and fall in love with!

One way I have found to successfully encourage students to read a variety of reading genres is by helping students have a balanced reading diet.

The following are questions that I am often asked about how I promote having a balanced reading diet in my classroom. 

What is a balanced reading diet?

I love explaining a balanced reading diet by comparing it to a well balanced food diet. Just like your body needs a variety of foods to help it grow, so does your reading diet. This simple analogy always helps students to see that they should be reading a wide range of genres, series, and authors.

At the start of the school year, we go over our classroom library (which is organized by reading genres) and discuss the characteristics of each genre. By clearly explaining each genre, showcasing a genre bucket, and recommending a book or two for each genre, students are engaged and curious! Leaving a genre bulletin board display up all year long truly helps and encourages students to explore different genres.

How can you encourage a balanced reading diet?

In my classroom, I use frequent reader club cards to encourage students to read new genres. It is a fun way to help students expand their reading and teach responsibility since these cards are non-refundable! 

These cards are fun, easy to use, and highly motivating for students! I hand out the cards and chat about them with students. After they read a book that matches one of the listed genres, they must share an oral summary about the book and explain why it is that genre.  Students can find me to chat about the book during morning work, snack time, or dismissal. This is not done during instructional time. Once all 7 genres listed on the card are stamped/punched, the student earns a reward. It is usually something simple like, lunch with the teacher, homework or morning work pass, or tickets for our weekly raffle. After the student has submitted their card for a prize, they get a new card and start all over again.

What is a reading genre challenge?

This is such a fun activity to do after you teach students about the different reading genres and it is easy to do!

Just grab a few baskets and fill them with a wide range of reading genres from your classroom library. Put the baskets in the middle of a group of students to share. Each student takes a book and explores the book: title, cover, summary, read the first chapter, or any other way they want to learn about the book. Then they identify what genre it is, write it down, and begin again with another book.

Students always love this! They learn about new genres, get talking about books with their peers, and get curious about different books in our classroom library.

How do students share a wide range of reading genres?

There are two main ways that I have students share what they are reading with their peers. We have a weekly book recommendation sign up and we also do classroom book talks.

• Book Recommendation Sign Ups: Once a week, students can sign up for an informal book share to be held during our Wednesday morning meeting. It is less formal than book talks, but allows students to share a book that they are currently reading and love. We have a sign up sheet that requires students to write the book title and author. I also ask students to leave the genre code for the book that they would like to share.  Each week we share different genres. If someone already signed up for a book share with the genre that a student wants to share, they will have to wait until the next month. This ensures that a variety of genres are shared each month.
• Book Talks: Book talk time is a structured time in the day for students to share and talk about the books that they are reading. Through the students' prepared, short oral presentations, they try to sell or persuade their peers to read the book. This means that the students combine their reading, opinion, persuasive, and speaking skills into one meaningful activity. I love to hold book talks every Friday afternoon.

Read more about implementing book talks in your classroom HERE.

When it comes to encouraging students to read a variety of genres and truly grow as readers, try using reading challenges and balanced reading diets. These are fun ways to pique students' curiosity about different genres, series, and authors!

You might be interested in reading:

The Best Books to Build Your Classroom Library

4 Classroom Library Must Haves

Tips for Teaching Reading Strategies in the Upper Elementary Classroom

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Check out my favorite reading activities HERE. 

Like this Visualizing Reading Strategy pack! 

Want more Reading Genre Resources?
Click Here.

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4 Back to School Activities to Kickoff Reading

I love kicking off reading in my classroom with activities that hook students right from the first day of school! I love using fresh ideas to help students think about reading and books in new ways.

By the time my students have come to me in the upper grades, they have already had several back-to-school reading lessons under their belts. That is why I like to engage students in back-to-school reading lessons that are different than anything they have completed before!

While these lessons focus on very important beginning of the year reading skills and topics that must be taught, you will find that these activities offer students fresh and engaging activities that will hook them into reading and start them on their path of becoming lifelong readers!

Make a Classroom Library Map

Creating a map of our classroom library is always a class favorite! Students always remember this activity and it helps them learn the ins and outs of the classroom library to make finding a just right book simple! 

Here is how to use this classroom library map activity:

Go over how your classroom library is organized with your students. Your students should know if your library is organized by level or genre, or a mix of both. when students understand how their classroom library works they can shop for books in a small amount of time.

I use a full reading mini-lesson on how the library is organized. Students explore the baskets, genres, posters, and learn the ins and outs of each shelf. Then students create a map of our library.  I also challenge students to make a map key to help them identify different parts of the library. Once students complete their classroom library maps they keep them in their reading binders.

Not only is this helpful activity for students to familiarize themselves with their new classroom but it also gets them excited about new genres and talking about books! Since our library is not big enough for all students to create their maps at the same time students rotate through. If they are not working on the classroom map, they are independently reading.

Just Right Book Challenge

This Just Right Book Challenge is my favorite back-to-school reading activity! Who doesn't love a good challenge?

Each group of students will get a bucket of books at their table filled with a mix of challenging, just right, and easy books. Each student will take a turn with a book to "test it" out to see if it is just right for them. Each student completes the reflection page independently with information to support if the book is too challenging, too easy, or just right. Students work privately even though they are sharing a bucket of books.

This focused task truly helps students compare books in one sitting allowing them to recognize which is too challenging, too easy, or just right! This is a must add to your back-to-school reading lesson plans!

Bust out the Stopwatches: Building Stamina Countdown

Grab your stopwatches and get ready to track your class' stamina!

My students always love this tracking system to help us slowly build our reading stamina. I take this page and place it in a thick page protector that I can write and erase on. We start with a class goal of sitting and reading for 20 minutes without interruptions. As the days pass we add more time to our goal, eventually sitting for 45-60 minutes of focused reading time. The students are highly motivated by this and enjoy trying to beat their time every day. Rotate students to be in charge of the stopwatch for a little extra motivation! 

Real VS Fake Reading Anchor Chart

Talking about real and fake reading is an important back-to-school reading lesson. It is a meaningful way to have students reflect on their own personal reading habits. You can create an anchor chart before your lesson with ideas like these to kick off the discussion or leave your TCHART anchor chart blank so that students can fill it in. 

By discussing what real, meaningful reading is at the start of the year, you will be helping students self-monitor and check-in with themselves as readers all year long!

When it comes to getting your students excited about reading this year, these fresh new ideas will do the trick! These activities are highly engaging and motivating for ALL students regardless of reading levels. Start the school year and your reading block with these must-try lessons and activities! 

Have a great year teacher friends!

Get started celebrating reading in your classroom this back-to-school season with this easy to implement FREE resource.

You might be interested in reading:

Back to School Read Alouds to Create an Inclusive Classroom

4 Ways to Set Up an Effective Classroom Library

Highly Effective Strategies for Launching Reading Workshop

Celebrating Readers Picture Books

Check out my favorite reading kick-off activities HERE. 

Like this writing about reading resource! 

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