Sunday, 16 June 2019

What kinds of playing and games can we play with books?



On Facebook, I asked:
What kinds of playing, jokes, games, challenges can you do with books which have succeeded in getting children and young people reading?
Freeze frames?
‘What would YOU do if you were (the character)’?
Prequels/sequels?
Comic strip retelling?
Make up a dance/take a photo/compose some music/do a picture to go with a book?


Here are the replies:
  • Bonnie Craven I used to read stories to my ks2 classes and ask them to sketch whatever they were inspired to do as a result of the words they were listening to.
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  • Debbie O'Brien I love using "conscience alley', which is an idea in CLPE Power of Reading. When a character faces a dilemma, the class form 2 lines facing each other. One side thinks of reasons for and the other reasons against a choice. A child role plays the character and walks through conscience alley slowly. As they do, the children lean in and whisper advice to them. At the end, they share some of the advice and which they might take.
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  • Rita Chakraborty Hot-seating as characters - especially the less vocal/visible side characters - has worked really well. Acting out a scene, or re-telling a scene the way you would have liked it to play out, with children assigning roles and lines themselves has been lots of fun when I’ve done it in the past. Also, just a good old-fashioned craft activity based on the book...a collectively built robot or spaceship is what we’re planning for the upcoming SRC...
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  • Marcus Moore Getting kids to act out a book never fails, in my experience - whether it's a simple re-telling of the story, or using the actual text as a hand-held script, with one (or more) child(ren) narrating and others in the group (of 3 or 4) doing the actions etc.
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  • Jane Bernal My step-daughter, who will not do FB had the whole class making snacks and sending them across the class-room on a pulley for the Lighthouse Keepers Lunch.
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  • Suzie Phillips I’ve taken random images/illustrations from picture books/film/animation for younger pupils - or wordless books by Shaun Tan for older students, and asked them to order the images and create a narrative, to get them to begin to analyse and infer, and t…See More
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    • Dawn Louise Hulland We love Shaun Tan. His textless illustrations are fabulous for inspiring writing and boys are truly engaged!
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    Write a reply...

  • Rowan Mcmanus I put books in different areas of the classroom based on their content i.e. Maths corner. I ask the children to tell me what topic they're interested in and buy books related. Last topic was Superheroes and I put Supertato, other fun superhero books and some comics in the reading den. I also do hot seating which they love. I have S class of boys who are not reluctant readers any more. ðŸ˜ŠðŸ˜Š
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  • Nicky Hopkins I did a 100 book challenge with some of the children who raced through the Summer Reading Challenge. I included lots of different things they had to cover - new book, non-fiction, a cover that intrigued you, a cover that put you off, a book to read out loud, a book to be read to you that kind of thing. Plus a book version of consequences is always fun
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  • Lizzi Roche I used to play a game with my class and small groups (creatively called The Reading Game). With any genre of text, I'd pick a child to start and then at any point after a few words or longer I'd say a different child's name and they'd have to continue straight on, no long pause, no repeats. It massively encouraged them all to follow along the text and engage. They got passionate about not "getting out" (for pausing or repeating, even though nothing happened if they did haha). It also really encouraged my reluctant readers to read aloud as I would switch it to someone else quickly to gradually build their confidence. They got so good at I introduced them saying the next child's name when they wanted. I expected the most reluctant readers to opt out quickly but was actually pleasantly surprised they remained engaged and read more then I expected! It was awesome! I started having children who "hated reading" asking me all the time if we could play The Reading Game. 
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  • Amanda Reed I knew a boy who wouldn't willingly look at a book until he got a personalised book with him, his friends and dog as main characters. 30 years later he still names it as his favourite book ever
  • Clarina Mascarenhas They used to teach us Shakespeare by having us paraphrase scenes (we were only 7 at the time) and kill eachother with rulers and pencils it was pretty dope.
  • Debby Thacker You really need to find out about Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils, Michael! So many ideas in that network....
  • Arnton Fell I don't suppose it counts, but I had a shelf of 'forbidden books' - all of which were quickly read!
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  • Pat Parr As a primary school librarian I either see for myself in the library or find out from teachers who the reluctant (for whatever reason) or 'stagnant' (ie. they've hit a reading wall) readers are. Also for those who are voracious readers but don't know …See More
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    • Pat Parr I've also done lots of activities over the last few years to promote reading for enjoyment, as opposed to reading for the curriculum. Probably one of the best a few years back was a fun Doctor Who event after school: lots of new books on display to borrow, take a selfie in front of the Tardis (huge cardboard cutout), write a postcard home from space, make alien masks, make Dr Who/space badges, Dalek colouring, etc. Theme overlapped with time travel, science fiction & space so we had a great selection of books.
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