Reading teachers ask students for book reports regularly. Students read the book and write the required report. Students find book reports tedious and often balk at writing them. Teachers know book reports are an important part of the learning process, but still find the grading of dozens of reports very tiring. Book reports don't have to just be paper and pencil; they can be done in some clever and inventive ways.
Dress Like a Character Report
For this book report students choose one of the major characters in the book and come up with clothing that would resemble what the character may wear. The "character" then tells the rest of the class about the book. For example for Little House on the Prairie (Perennial Library, 1975), a young lady dresses in a prairie style dress with a bonnet and tells the story of traveling by covered wagon to the west. Students love to play make believe and dress up so they find this time of book report enjoyable.
Book Character Parade
This type of book report could be used in conjunction with the Dress Like a Character Reports or as a stand alone. The students select a character from their book and develop a costume to represent that character. They also create a poster telling briefly about the book the character is from. The students then parade around the school presenting their books to all the other students.
Make a Physical Representation of the Story Report
For this report students choose one scene from the story. They then make a diorama for that scene putting physical representations of the story in a shoebox. The dioramas can be simple made with paper and glue or very complex using small dolls and landscape elements. For example for Lions at Lunchtime (Random House, 1998), the young man used paper to make a male lion and two children figures. He colored the box green and brown to represent the plains of Africa and drew a tree house in the background.
Sell the Book Report
For this type of report the student writes a commercial selling the book he has read. The commercial contains many of the same elements as the traditional book report, but the student presents the information in an exciting way much like a commercial is presented. The commercial could be radio spots and recorded on a CD to be played for the class, or television spots that are just acted out in front of the class.
Book reports are a necessary part of the educational process. However by dressing like a character, making a physical representation of the book and selling the book, the reports need not be a boring tedious affair.
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