4th Grade Speed Reviews

Years ago when I was at a Library conference I heard about an idea called "Speed Reviews".   This is where a student does a 1 minute book talk about the chapter book they just read.  The goal is to get other students interested in their book so they might want to check that book out. One of the benefits to a "Speed Review" is that the student only has to give the review to one person and not have to stand in front of the class, I think it makes the presenter more at ease.

The 4th graders were given 5-6 weeks to read a chapter book, write a detailed synopsis of the book and print the book cover and title to use as a visual aid.  The students only have 1 minute to try and "sell" their book to their friend.  As I walked around the room I was able to quickly tell which students finished their book and were able to tell about it.  I had quite a few quality speed reviews this year, just a different way to do a book report.

Dr Seuss Celebration

This year for Read Across America Day in March we celebrated by having the students play a "Cat in the Hat Guessing Game" on CNN (our weekly news show). We took pictures of staff at the Elementary (custodian, secretary, principal, special teachers, etc.)  that all students come into contact with.  The staff wore a cat in the hat hat and held a book over their face, so only their eyes were showing.  Then the class had to guess who the "Cat" was.  After turning their guesses into the library, they were given a stack of "Dr. Seuss" bookmarks to celebrate the day. Fun was had by all.