Response to Literature & Novel Studies in the Elementary Classroom

It’s time to read with your students!  What are you doing to ensure students are comprehending the stories?  Are you following the weekly guide in your reading curriculum TE?  If you are, I know that can get monotonous.  You need to keep students’ attention.  But how?

Easy… you give them Response to Literature activities!  What are some activities you could complete?

• activities before you start reading – examples include looking at the cover and chapter titles
• visualization – have students draw and color something from the story; have them compare with their classmates to see similarities and differences
• setting – think about if the setting changes and if all settings are equally important
• characters – there are so many activities – character development, character traits webs, acrostic poems, comparing characters
• problem/solution
• author’s purpose
• summarize the story
• unanswered questions at the end
• letter to the author or illustrator
• compare stories – Is there another story that’s similar?  Have students read a different story from the same author?
• story’s message – moral/lesson; what the character(s) learn
• text connections – text to text, text to self, and text to world
• storyboard – students write a sentence or two for main events and draw a picture
• alternate ending – would students change anything
• favorite part/scene

Check out my Response to Literature Activities here!!  You get 52 pages that can go with ANY story or book!

Do you ever want to read novels with your students? I LOVE delving into a good book with my students. I’ve read novels in all three grades I’ve taught: 6th, 5th, and 3rd.

When you read novels whole group, students learn how to ask questions, compare something in the story to their own life, and so much more!  In addition to the activities listed above, you could include:

• vocabulary and questions for each chapter – I would say this depends on the age and reading/writing ability of your class.  For example, with Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry, I have students write definitions for hard words, answer a few questions, and make a text connection to themselves, another text, or the world.  For Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, both by E.B. White, I have a few open-ended questions for students to answer.
• end of book test – I tend to make these mostly multiple choice.  I also allow students to use the book to refer back to something in the story.

When I taught 6th grade, my students and I read A LOT of good books together. One of my favorites was always Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry.  There are a lot of fun activities to do with students to ensure their understanding. Click HERE to see activities I’ve created to go along with this great story.

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With 3rd graders, we loved to read both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, by E.B. White. One of the third grade standards is to compare two stories written by the same author. These stories are perfect for comparing and contrasting! Click HERE to see all the activities I have for each story, as well as ones to compare.

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Whatever books you choose to read with your students, I really believe it’s beneficial for them to read aloud whole group. While literature groups can be good, I’ve found that a lot of the time not everyone does their part. When students see their teacher reading with them and getting excited about the story, they’ll be more invested!