WOW, where does the time go? My best advice for coming back form the holiday is jump into routines ASAP. Students crave boundaries and their routines are part of their boundaries. They find boundaries safe and predictable. The added bonus can be less behavior problems. In our state, reading month is January. We usually offer many activities for our students. Here are a few:
1. Reading month Bingo board
We have handed out a school-wide bingo board in the past.
Our students could read books to make a standard bingo (for a treat) OR they can read 25 books in the month for a bingo blackout.
If they turn in a bingo blackout, they can attend a Bingo Party with the principal to win fun prizes.
I also made a bulletin board for the main hallway to show an example of each square.
For a student copy of the Reading Month Bingo Card, click the link.
2. Dress up for Reading month
Reading Jogs the Mind: Wear a jogging suit. (You can also do “Reading Exercises Your Brain” and wear exercise clothes.)
Reading Dress Up Day: Not only can you dress up like your favorite fiction character, we also offered students the option of dressing up to represent a non-fiction book.
Reading Keeps You Warm: Wear hats, scarves, and gloves while you read (although the gloves might prove difficult).
Hats off to Reading! (Hat Day)
Reading Knocks Your Socks Off (Crazy Sock Day)
PAWSitively Wild About Reading (Wear Animal Prints or shirts with Animals)
Read a Shirt Day (Shirts with Words)
Snuggle Up and Read (wear PJs)
Team Up for Reading (wear sports jerseys)
Surf’s Up for Reading (wear Hawaiian shirts – especially fun in the winter)
We “red” all month! (I know it’s spelled wrong, think homonyms.) The whole school wears red on the last day of the month.
3. reading month Lucky Reader
Our school librarian will pull a name from each class during reading month and the “lucky reader” will get to choose a new book TO KEEP! She also puts special coupons in books all over the library. If you find a coupon, you can earn a prize.
4. reading month Doors for Donuts
At a previous school we ran this contest.
The class with the best door won donuts!
We did make sure the doors had student participation (this wasn’t a contest among the teachers, but among the students). We had to have it literacy driven.
This was our door.
The students had rhyming pairs on the coffee mugs.
We didn’t win, but we liked it.
5. reading month Popcorn, Parents, and Poetry
At my previous school, we had a night to highlight poetry. Because teachers have too much to do already, we needed to keep it simple. They were asked to do 3 things. 1. Each grade level chose a poem. The teachers were asked to practice the poem daily in their classrooms. 2. The teachers sent home a paper with each child with their name written down the left side of the page. The students and parents wrote and decorated an acrostic poem using their name. Any poems returned by the deadline were displayed in the POETRY HALL OF FAME (cafeteria) during our Popcorn, Parents, and Poetry Program. 3. Turn in the acrostic poems when they came into school. The night of the program I asked each grade level to come to the stage, one at time, recite their poem and return to their parents. After all the grades recited their poems, we invited the parents to come get a bag of popcorn while they “toured the POETRY HALL OF FAME.” It was an easy night. No long practices taking students away from learning (we didn’t practice at all, actually). No crazy expectations of the teachers. No big set-up (except putting out the poems). No big clean-up (except sweeping the floor.)
6. reading month Read Through the Alphabet Calendar
Another idea for a reading calendar: Students are given different things to do all month. Parents can initial the squares to confirm the child did the activity. Calendars can be turned in at the end of the month for a prize. Click the Read Through the Alphabet link or click the picture below.
There are definitely more ideas for reading month. Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.
