Turn Book Reports Into Podcasts - Improve Reading Fluency & Promote Enthusiasm For Literature

It is very common to have students give a book report. There isn't any faster way to bore your class than to have each student stand up and share the summary of a story.

What can you do to improve student attention and reading fluency all at once? Create some podcasts to share! By adding the element of a real-world audience, the quality of your student book reports will improve extensively.

One way would be to put children into groups of four. One child can pretend to be Oprah and interview the main character of each of the other books. Add some music at the beginning and end, and then post on the class or school webpage. You'll be amazed how many students from the whole school will be inspired to listen.

Another podcasting idea would be to do a reader's theater from a story. Have a couple kids read the same book and build the reader's theater themselves. This can be done faster if the students choose the scene to present and then copy the text and cut and paste it into play format. Recording the short section of the book will greatly enhance fluency as nobody will want to stumble around on the words on something that the whole world will hear!

Podcasting an "oldcast" is another way to bring a book to life. Take a historical fiction book and create a newscast around the olden times, hence the name, "oldcast."

Once you have a collection of these various book report podcasts, allow students to bring in their ipods and transfer the files to their iPods. You will be amazed at how many children actually take the time to listen. If possible, as an extension, set up a blog for each podcast so that students can comment on each one. This is a good opportunity to teach about proper online etiquette and what is appropriate to write about other people's work. Also, family members from around the world would love to have the opportunity to listen and comment.

So, let's liven up the traditional book report with the technologies that are a part of children's lives!

Download the supplemental pages such as the description, project planning sheet, and the grading rubric for this project from the download center within the Mastermind Group of Educators website at http://mastermindgroupofeducators.com

March is Reading Month Based on a Candyland Game Theme “Meet Me at the Candy Castle”

Inspiring kids to read can be achieved through a month-long challenge during March is Reading Month. For every class reaching the Candy Castle the reward is to participate in a school-wide game day (or 1/2 day.)

One idea is to use a game theme. As a school, a variation of the Candyland game board will be hung around the school walls. This is especially easy since the Candyland game board is made up of colored rectangles. If not a school-wide activity, certainly this could happen as a classroom activity.

Then, weekly bookmarks are handed out to students. Each piece of candy is colored in for every ten minutes of reading. At the end of the week the class minutes are totaled and then the class game piece is moved along the school-wide game board. Or, if in individual classrooms, each child would move his or her game piece.

To spice up the school-wide game board it is especially snazzy if the Candyland game board characters are scanned and enlarged. This can be done by scanning the images and then using a projector to show them on a wall or using a document camera, and then draw around them with black marker. Using pastel chalks is an excellent way to color the pieces. The older children can help with this activity.

A book jog is another way to encourage reading. Kids bring in used books from home that they would like to exchange. For every book that a child brings in, he gets a ticket to exchange for a different book. Create a path by taping rectangles of colored paper through the library and around the halls. Next, lay out all of the books that have been brought in along the path. Children travel the path looking for a book. At the end of the path the child exchanges their tickets for the books. By using the ticket method children can leave with as many books as they brought. In honor of the book jog, everyone should wear jogging suits for “Jog into Reading.”

In addition to the game, theme days can correspond to the various characters such as

Wear Red for Dr. Seuss’ Birthday and play the games on http://seussville.com

Lord Licorice: Wear a funny hat in honor of Lord Licorice.

Wear Green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and Mama Ginger Tree

Princess Frostine & King Kandy Day: Dress as your favorite fairy tale character

Gramma Nutt: Nutty Hair Day (a favorite of all kids is to come to school with crazy hair!)

Inspire kids to read by bringing a challenge to your school or class this year.
Download the supplemental pages, such as the recording sheet bookmarks from the download center within the Mastermind Group of Educators website.

Great Educational Technology Clip

This commercial features a professor apologizing to students for a system that has failed them.
The commercial has a couple great lines too:
"It's time to use technology to rewrite the rules of education."
"It's time to learn how you learn so we can teach you better."

Another 2nd Grade Snowman

Using the same video footage, another second grade created an audio track.

We created the video track by using a Sony digital video camera. It is an old one too, but a good one. It has a setting for interval recording. We set the camera to record one second of video for every minute. Then I imported the video into iMovie (the old version) and increased the speed of the track. Then I copied the track, pasted it at the end, and added the effect of playing it in reverse. iMovie 08 doesn't have this capability as far as I know. Finally, the second graders added their voice tracks! Great fun!

But, it scared the heck out of a little kindergartener and he went running away! Something about the snowman coming back to life was too much for him!

2nd Grade Snowman