Building Book Excitement!

Let’s talk about building book excitement!

As teachers, we know how important it is to our students that they become good readers. They need to be able to comprehend what they read, to be able to read at or above their grade level and to know how to use the written word to find out information.

Those of us who love to read know how amazing it can be to lose yourself in a good book. Good readers have increased vocabulary skills, are better problem-solvers, and improved imagination and listening skills. These are just a few of the benefits that we gain when reading is a pleasure and not a chore.

So how can we get our students to enjoy reading? I’ve put together a list of ideas that you can use with your students or your own children at home to instill in them a love of reading. And if you’d like more ideas, see this earlier post.

Build Book Excitement In Your Students

Read to them!

Probably the simplest way to build book excitement in our students is to read to them! It sounds so simple, but this is one of the best ways to get your kids excited about reading. It works with students of any age. Even teenagers, who profess not to like anything, will find themselves getting caught up in a book being read aloud to them.

Variety is the spice of life!

For young readers, help them find books that sound interesting to them. It’s very hard to compete with video games and television, but exposing them to a wide variety of books will help them to see that there are books written on virtually any topic. Whatever their interests are, there is most likely a story or young adult book about it.

Change it up in the library!

Keep your classroom library fresh! Display your classroom books upright, with the covers facing out. Every few weeks, change out some of the books with different ones.

Create the occasion!

Make library time special. If we make reading seem like a special treat, students will soon begin to think of it that way. If it’s at all possible, save some time after the kids return from the library to let them do something special with the books they’ve chosen. One idea is to pass out some kind of snack that they only get during this time and let them lay around the room or use special seating to start reading.

Mixed media.

Instead of competing with online media, embrace it by reading books that are also movies. This can be a great way to make students excited about reading. First, read the book. Then watch the movie. This will pave the way to discussions about the differences and similarities between the two. Hopefully at least one or two of your students will think that the book was better!

Seeing progress.

Have a (friendly) competition. Have your students keep a log on how many minutes they are reading each week. The student with the most points can get a small reward – perhaps being the first one allowed to borrow the newest classroom book.

Tech, tech, tech!

Nowadays, reading doesn’t only mean reading a physical book. Embrace technology by allowing your students to read on a device if they’d like to try that. Nothing can take the place of holding a physical book, but there are a few advantages to reading on a phone or tablet. For example, there is the immediate pleasure of being able to download an interesting book without having to wait for it. In a way, reading on a device is a way of having an entire library with you wherever you go!