Tag: storytelling

Beyond Popcorn Reading: Engaging Story Time Activities

Popcorn reading (one student reads and then “randomly” calls on a classmate) is a common practice among teachers. People seem to either love it or hate it. I am not personally a fan and something I read recently reinforces how I feel about this practice.

“It’s crazy to try to assess children’s reading abilities by simply asking them to read aloud. They might do it successfully yet have no understanding of the text at all, and that’s not reading! We need to chat with them about what they’re reading to ensure they comprehend what’s happening in the story, to find out if they’re in the “world” of the story, to discover if they’re really reading or not.”

Mem Fox (2008). Reading Magic, p. 107

This quote is found in “Hi-Impact Reading Strategies” by Bryce Hedstrom. If you are a language teacher (including ELA), YOU NEED THIS BOOK! Bryce walks through 4 important components of reading in the classroom. He includes multiple quotes and evidence backing each of his strategies. There are even student handouts and project ideas.

When I was student teaching, I taught a novel and would have the students read aloud. My wise mentor teacher taught me that when students are speaking, they are focusing on their pronunciation, not their comprehension. When they read something for the first time, the focus should be on their comprehension, not their pronunciation.

So, how do we use stories in class? How do we move beyond popcorn reading? I have a few ideas for you. You will notice that quite a few of my activities involve the teacher reading. That is because I think it is imperative for teachers to read to their students. Why? Because the teacher knows. YOU know the story. YOU know the highs and lows. YOU know how to pronounce the words.YOU know the parts you want to emphasize. YOU know the sections they will need help with. READ TO YOUR STUDENTS!

“The soul is contained in the human voice.”

Jorge Luis Borges

Here are some of my favorite activities:

This is a good activity when I don’t feel like being energetic. I can sit down with my paper under the projector. I very rarely teach from my desk, so this activity feels like a guilty pleasure. If you want to try it out, here is a blank template for you!

Blank-StoryboardDownload

Cornell notes are a big deal in my school. Every department has to include them in some way. So, I use them with reading! I have a blank document that I can use with any story. I go over what I expect them to write in each section and we come up with annotation marks they are expected to use to connect their notes to the text. You can use my blank template too:

Cornell-notes-blank-copyDownload

These are certainly not the only strategies out there. I also suggest Running Dictation (Comprehensible Classroom has an excellent explanation.) This activity is a hit with every level!

While not necessarily classroom reading activities, the following activities are fun for post-reading comprehension checks.

If you have any questions or activities to add to this list, drop me a comment below!

Story Roulette

Storytelling is something that I do quite often. I love telling stories. But, frankly, my kids get bored after the same storytelling style time and again. So, I decided to change it up.

For Story Roulette, you will need large paper and markers. I have a deskless classroom so I get the big butcher paper from the office and make my kids sit on the floor. Because they are on the floor, markers work much better than colored pencils (which just rip through the paper). However, you could also do this with a sheet of white paper and two partners at a desk.

You will also, obviously, need a story. This works best with stories that can be told in small chunks. You don’t want to be saying more than a sentence or two at a time. That being said, I have used Story Roulette to read a chapter from a book and to tell the legend of El Silbón.

In Story Roulette, students need to be in groups. You can determine the size of the groups. I never like to have more than 4 as the bigger the group, the less each person in it seems to participate. I have done this as well with just partners, but I find that 3 seems to be the magic number.

So, this is how Story Roulette works:

  1. Students (or teacher) form their groups, get their materials, and number off. Teach assigns each group a letter
  2. Teacher says a sentence of the story, repeating it multiple times (I like to walk around the room as I do this)
  3. Students draw what is happening in the sentence (Depending on the participation of the class, I sometimes make each student have a different color so I can see that they are all participating). Teacher continues to repeat the sentence as students draw.
  4. Teacher says a number. The person with that number in the group now has to say the sentence the teacher has been continuously repeating to their group.
  5. Teacher now says a letter. The group with that letter repeats the sentence as a group to the rest of the class.
  6. Repeat until the story is over.

After every 6 sentences or so I like to pause and have students retell the entire story in their group.

This activity often takes two days and can seem to move slowly, but the students are getting so many repetitions. They are hearing the words and phrases, and using them as well, multiple times in the course of one class.

When the story is over, I take pictures of their work. Then I can pull it up later to review the story or to do other activities with it. They are often proud of their picture (even, or maybe especially, when they are bad). Most importantly, this activity is FUN. They are working together, drawing, on the floor, and learning without really thinking about it.

I am sure that there are many ways to modify this activity, so if you have any ideas, comment below. Let’s collaborate!

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