Saturday, May 24, 2014

Saturday Spark Motivation: Musical Reading Chairs!

http://headoverheelsforteaching.blogspot.com/2014/05/spark-student-motivation-reading-in.htmlLately, it seems as though my students are checking out. We still have twenty days of school left and have a LOT to get accomplished in that time. The same students that were avid readers are reading more and more, but the ones that never reading enjoyed reading are back at doing anything and everything to avoid the subject. To get their attention, motivate my students to read, and help them find a new genre or interest to read about, I came up with Musical Reading Chairs. 

Next year, I will ABSOLUTELY incorporate this into my lesson plans for the first few days of school.

This turned out to be a great interactive approach to get the kids reading, moving, sharing, conversing, all while having fun.

I divided the class into two sections and had them all bring their chair and "Just Right Book" over to the carpet. We arranged the chairs like we were playing good old Musical Chairs. I had the students sit down and continue reading their JRB, while I set a timer for 3 minutes. 

I then turned on Pandora to KidsBop and played some fun music. The students had to put their book down on their chair and walk/dance around the circle until the music stopped. I took video of this because it was pretty entertaining to watch. lol

 

When the music stopped, they sat in the closest chair, picked up the book, and started from page one for three minutes. We repeated this 4 times and the kids LOVED it. We then put the room back in order and all met on the reading carpet. 

I gave the students a chance to discuss books that interested them, with the students who were reading and knew more information about the book. The students were all busy buzzing about books, not one student sat around speechless. 

Next we created a "sign up sticky" for the books. If there were multiple people interested in a book we put their names, in a list, on a sticky note, and put it on the last page of the book. When the current reader finishes the book, he/she will know who to pass it off to.




There is nothing better than getting students motivated and excited to read! Guess which book was the most popular? 

 
Looks like I will be ordering more of this series for next year!

Have a wonderful long weekend teacher friends! Thanks to my sweet friend Joanne for hosting today's linky! :)


10 comments:

  1. I cannot keep the Shadow Children series on my bookshelves. I have already ordered another set for next year, and I will definitely be looking for another!

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  2. I am so doing this next week. What a blast, as you sample new books to read. The talking part and the sticky note ideas are fabulous. Often, I get free Scholastic books, and several kids want to read them. A sticky note is such a simple -to- carry- out solution! Thank you!

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    1. I can't email you back Karen, because your email isn't hooked up to your blogger account, but I wanted to tell you that I randomly just came up with this idea when I received my last shipment of books from Scholastic. Everyone wanted the same ones, but nobody wanted to try others because they "looked boring"- that's how this idea was born! Good luck, I'd love to know how it works out for you! :)

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  3. What a fun idea!!!

    My kiddos love the Shadow Children series too! I have bought two sets of the series - and I think I have four #3 because several kids needed that one and I found them cheap at a Used book store :)

    ~Jessica
    Joy in the Journey

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  4. We only have 8 days left and I could definitely use the musical chairs idea to motivate my kids and keep them busy reading. I'm sorry you have 20!

    Jessica
    Literacy Spark

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    1. It would also be great to sample books to make a summer reading list!!! :)

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  5. What a cute idea Theresa! And, you know I LOVE anything that involves a sticky note! I have to try this idea in my class! It's awesome! Thanks for sharing and linking up BBB!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  6. I am doing this when we return to school on Tuesday! What a GREAT idea. Thanks!
    sethgift@yahoo.com

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  7. I love this idea! I also like your idea to create a summer reading list! I'm going to add this into my lessons this week! Students can create their very own personalized summer reading list and I need to provide an incentive for them to frequently visit the library!

    Susan
    Passioninportableland

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  8. I'm doing this TOMORROW! I love this idea. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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