Multi-Level Activities By presenting a wide range of cross curriculum activities centered around books and reading, even the most reluctant reader can be caught up in the enthusiasm.   What to Include Time Allocation Decide on a time allocation per day for reading week activities, eg two hours per day a full afternoon each day or the full week mornings only Themes Most successful book weeks are run around a theme. This could be: legends dragons adventure famous people pets travel nature the world of transport leisure activities Reading Logs Keep a simple reading log during the week, eg title author main ideas main ideas and special characters Writing a Short Book Write and illustrate a book. This can be done as a group co-operative project.Senior pupils can write a book for junior classes after surveying the literature that junior pupils read and enjoy most.Junior classes write a 'big book' on a theme eg 'our familiy' containing their art work and simple captions. Write a Letter Write a letter to their parents listing reasons why they should be given a certain book for their next birthday. Panel Discussions Have daily pupil panel discussions that include: favourite character and why most exciting page dullest page most action page suggested changes to the plot Adopt a Pupil Senior pupils adopt a junior class or junior pupil. Read to them regularly during the week. Selling a Book Make up a thirty second TV and radio advertisement to sell an enjoyable book. Adventure Scripts Write scripts and/or a story about further adventures that any of the main characters could have had.Produce these as mini dramas. Involvement & Preparation Involve all staff members in planning the theme and activities. Plan at least a month ahead. Involve your parents so they can enthuse and encourage your pupils. Arrange for a wide range of guests to visit during the week. Make your library the focus for the reading week. Arrange for displays of books in all classrooms and library. Invited Guests Invite a special guest each day to share their love of books with the pupils, eg local celebrities and sports people share their favourite story invite an author to the classroom visits from a librarian visits from publishers visits from booksellers teachers share their favourites visits from magazine and newspaper editors invite a book illustrator to visit your classroom invite parents to share favorite stories local fisherman to tell tall tales.   Ideas Potpourri Time Lines Students make an illustrated time line of what happens to one of the book characters during a story.Add captions to the illustrations. Character Masks All pupils make at least one mask of their favourite character/s from a story. Masks can be made from paper bags, bent & stapled card and papier mache. Story Artifacts In many stories there are pieces of clothing, jewellery or articles that play a significant part in a story, eg a witches broomstick, a magic lamp. Create them and make into a classroom display. Character Photographs After several pupils have read a book, have them combine and make their own costumes of the characters. Paint murals as backdrops for different scenes in the story and collect any necessary props. Pupils now enact (pose) still scenes of main incidents in the story with the pupils as static actors. Photograph each scene and put together in book form and retell the story with captions underneath each photograph. Book Mobiles Make favourite character or favourite book mobiles to hang around the school corridors.  Shadow Play Action scenes from a book make exciting shadow plays, eg actors behind a sheet with bright light behind the actors. Oral Reading Provide daily opportunities for pupils to read out their favourite paragraph from their current book. Have senior pupils read daily to the junior school. Read and Rate Have pupils devise a rating system for books, eg a 1-5 scale. Pupils must provide reasons and justifications for their ratings. Keep a Visual Record Have a daily update of the total number of books read by the class members.This could be in graph or pictogram form. Junior children could write the name of the book in a book shape that becomes part of a growing display. Book Assemblies Hold daily book assemblies where books are promoted by teachers, parents and pupils. Books are then 'auctioned' for reading. Pupils can bid with book character dollars they have designed.   Design Topic Have each pupil contribute one book to a class or group display. Pupils carefully examine each book and pick the 'one book' that most catches they eye. Why does this book catch their eye above all other books in the display? Discuss. From the discussion, build up a list of elements that the pupils believe catch the eye, eg bright colours, unusual lettering, photographs. Choose the top ten most eye catching books from the display. Do some books appeal more to girls than to boys? Why? Try the same experiment with pupils from other classes and age groups within the school. Do certain colours or design elements appeal to different age groups? Display results in graphic or table form. What inferences can be made from the data displayed? Discuss. Why is it important for a book to 'look good and catch the eye'? Invite a graphic designer to talk to the class about how she/he would go about designing an attractive cover. Pupils brainstorm an imaginative list of 'yet to be written' book titles. Have pupils design/paint a dust cover for one of the books on the list. Make into a wall display. Do you have a lesson you would like to share with other teachers? Simply email us an attached Word, Works or PDF file and we will add it to our library. Don't forget to include your name and school so we can acknowledge your work.

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