Class Books are a fun and effective way to promote literacy, creativity, and community in kindergarten classrooms. Plus your students will love them! Want some ideas for using class books all year long? Keep reading!
WHAT ARE CLASS BOOKS & WHY SHOULD WE MAKE THEM?
A Class Book is a book created by the teacher and the students together. Each student contributes a page or two to the book, which is then bound together and added to the classroom library.
There are several reasons why Class Books are beneficial:
- They help to develop literacy skills. Students are involved in writing the book and then reading the finished product.
- Class Books encourage creativity and imagination. Students come up with their own ideas and create the illustrations for their pages.
- Class Books promote a sense of community in the classroom. Students work together to create something that they can all be proud of!
WHERE TO START?
You can make a class book on the very first day or week of school! Start with a simple page where students practice printing their name. Add a photo or have the students draw a picture of themselves. This is a great community builder at the beginning of the year and your students will love looking at the pictures of all their new classmates!
FREE Class Book: What is Your Name?
DO IT TOGETHER!
Introduce class books as a whole group activity. Start with simple pages where your students will only have to fill in a blank. Brainstorm ideas together and write them on the board or chart paper. Give students time together to write and illustrate their pages. Build some excitement about the finished book and read it aloud to the class. Add it your class library and… Viola! Your students will have written their first book and want to write more!
ADD TO CENTERS
After you have made a few class books together you can add this activity to your literacy, writing or even math centers (counting, shape, pattern books etc). To make sure all students are able to work independently, add some word cards with pictures. Great for inspiration and help writing words. Don’t forget to add the finished books to your class library! They are just as much fun to read as to write.
DIFFERENTIATE
As our students’ writing skills grow your class books will need to grow with them. Add page options with more room for writing open ended responses. Differentiated pages help all your students feel successful and able to contribute to the class book.
USE TO SHOW LEARNING
This was one of my favourite ways to use class books. They make a great wrap up activity at the end of a unit of study or theme. Students can share what they have learned and reinforce learning with their peers. Also as the books get added to the class library students can revisit the different topics learned throughout the year.
Want to write (& read!) class books all year long in your classroom? Check out our Bundle of Class Books with topics for the entire year.
Want More Writing Ideas for the School Year?
Check out these posts:ย 3 Writing Activities for Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer.
