Activities To Do At School To Stimulate Reading
Teachers always find themselves having to face a challenge in their classrooms: to induce their pupils to read and, above all, to do it with pleasure. To this end they can use a wide range of activities to stimulate reading in the classroom and to do it in the best way.
It is clear that the pupils will read the texts of the teaching units, which present some concrete contents, but what happens during the rest of the day? Will they want to read outside the classroom?
Love for reading
To become a person who enjoys reading throughout his life, you need to develop a love of books from the very beginning of your reading skills. If a child doesn’t like to read, they probably will as an adult.
The family context is very important for children, in all aspects, therefore also with regard to the creation of reading habits and pleasure for the same . The key to getting kids to read is usually for parents to read too. If children see their parents reading at home, they are much more likely to embrace the idea that reading is an enjoyable activity, something you do because you want it and it’s fun.
Can teachers do something to encourage reading in the classroom? Below you can find some ideas to motivate children to read and help them develop a love of reading.
Activities to do at school to stimulate reading
Children should know that all teachers, not just those of Italian, read books. A good idea to stimulate reading at school is for teachers to bring some of their favorite books to class during the academic course.
Before starting the lesson, regardless of the subject, the teacher will read aloud to the class, for about five minutes, a passage from the book he likes so much. This will awaken interest in this and other books in children.
The walls of reading
The surrounding environment is crucial. It is about creating a classroom environment that allows you to keep this topic always present. One of the activities to encourage reading in the classroom can be to create reading walls. A creative, fun and easy to make idea.
Whenever a pupil or a teacher starts a book, they will have to leave on these walls a drawing, a sentence, something visual related to the new reading. It’s a great way to give advice. All pupils will want to participate, read and contribute.
Reading challenges
Reading challenges are a great incentive to make children want to read. For these challenges, symbolic prizes will be awarded at the end of the school course ; for example, medals, diplomas and even some books.
Extreme reading
It is a stimulating challenge for the little ones. During the course, they are invited to take pictures of themselves while they read in different places, from rides to a park bench. A bar or on the grass in the countryside can be other places to read.
The children will bring the photos to the classroom and hang them in a corridor where they can be seen by all. Always carrying a book with you to take the photos, they will end up reading for real.
100 words to stimulate reading
Each pupil will write a 100-word text on a topic of interest to him. If nothing comes to mind, the teacher can present a list of proposals to choose from.
Afterwards, each day one of the poems will be given to classmates, who will read it (it will be easy, they are short) and will have to write comments on what they have read. To motivate students, the teacher will say that reading what a classmate has written is a great way to support someone who has written something, and this is very important.
Gradually the children will get used to reading. Since it is a matter of few words, this activity to encourage reading will not be difficult for them and, since the poem was written by a companion, it will immediately arouse their curiosity.
The 16 books before the age of 16, activities to stimulate reading in the classroom
This is an activity for teenagers, designed for the second year of high school. It presents a challenge for their age: they must read 16 books before they turn 16. The teacher presents a list of books suitable for the age of the pupils and which may be of interest to them.
Since this is a challenge, therefore something to face, they will be interested in doing it. In class, every two or three weeks, they will have to tell which books on the list they are reading and see who approaches 16 books and 16 years. Examples of teen books:
- The dark beyond the hedge
- A gang of idiots
- The young Holden
- Hunger Games
- Wonder
- Thirteen
With these simple activities, the love of reading will develop naturally in pupils from an early age. Gradually, thanks to the teachers and professors, they will become readers for pleasure, with all the positive consequences that this entails for their personal development during the course of their life.
