Today I’m sharing a resource list of Reader Response Activities Resource Books. Some of them are a bit old but still have great info in them.
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Cigrand, Mariann and Phyllis Howard. Easy Literature-Based Quilts Around the Year. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2000.
Cigrand and Howard share with readers their literature-response quilts. The author’s include guidelines for 20 different picture books. Each entry includes: a summary of the book, things to do before and after reading the book, writing prompts, and extensions for further reading. They also include step-by-step instructions for making the quilt as well as needed patterns and supply lists. The projects are designed for grades 1-3.
Drutman, Ava and Diane Houston. 150 Surefire Ways to Keep Them Reading All Year. New York: Scholastic, 1991.
While not all of the activities included in this book are response activities, there are many that are. Book flags, book banners, one-act plays, and making models of book characters out of clay are some of the response activities included The authors have collected 150 activities for classroom, school, and community which encourage reading.
Elmore, Rebekah and Michael Gravois. 10 Ready-to-go Book Report Projects. New York: Scholastic, 1997.
While the author’s use the term book report, the activities included could easily be seen as reader response activities. Teachers could present these projects to students as part of a list of response activities for students to choose from. Ideas included in the book include: scrapbook, newspaper, mobile, road map, and book jacket. Suggested requirements, instructions for completion, a rubric and graphic organizers are included to assist students in the projects. As suggested in my reading for this packet, teachers may want to use the forms only for the first time a student does the project so that in future projects they are responding to the book not the project. The book is designed for use with grades 4-8.
Licciardo-Musso, Lori. Teaching with Favorite Newbery Books. New York: Scholastic Professional Books, 1999.
Licciardo-Musso has developed reader response activities for 25 Newbery award winning books. She even includes chapter-by-chapter response journal prompts. The book is for use with grades 4-8.
O’Brien-Palmer, Michelle. Beyond Book Reports. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1997.
Beyond Book Reports is written for students in grades 2-6 but could easily be adapted by a teacher for classroom use. The author includes examples of: interest sheets, reading lists, genre samplings, and author and illustrator activities.
Story sheets, outcome predictions, response journals and story maps are some of the response activities suggested and explains. One alternative to book reports is the book review. The author includes guidelines for various types of book reviews. Suggestions for Literature Groups and other fun reading activities are also included. The book concludes with forms teachers can copy for classroom use.
Philpot, Jan Grubb. Book-a-brations! Nashville, TN: Incentive Publications, Inc., 1990.
A book of activities and celebrations to promote a love of literature. Philpot includes step-by-step instructions and reproducibles for the activities.
Van Zile, Susan. Awesome Hands-on Activities for Teaching Literary Elements. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2001.
Susan Van Zile uses literature circles and reader response journals in her classroom. She developed these hands-on activities for grades 4-8 to supplement these reading activities. The activities she describes can be used with traditional literature, short stories, or novels. The activities are designed to teach the literary elements of: setting, character, plot, and theme. The book includes copies of student pages to be copied for use in the classroom. Again, these should be used only as necessary until the students understand the project. After that try the activity without the handout for greater reader response.
Works, Robin. Promoting Reading with Reading Programs. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1992.
Designed for use by school and public librarians, the activities and thematic units could be adapted for classroom use. The activities included are response oriented. A creative teacher could use the information in the book as a springboard for his or her own ideas.
For more information on Reader Response, see these posts –
Children’s Book Week – Ways to Respond to Literature
Children’s Book Week – Literary Theory and Responding to Literature
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Part of responding to literature is Reading Logs. Learning about your students can happen through an Interest Survey. I have copies in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.
