Friendly Letter: Students can use a program like ABCya's Letter Generator to write a letter written by the main character in the book they are currently reading. Students can choose who their character is writing to for this activity.
The Bad Case of Stripes
Video Commercial: Students can use any video platform to create a video commercial for their book to persuade someone to read it. They will need to carefully plan their commercial (could use one of THESE planning sheets from Studiobinder) before filming. Some ideas for video platforms include but aren't limited to: iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, Flipgrid, WeVideo, Video Recorder, Pocket Video app, Apple Clips app or just use your device's main camera!
Cereal Box Book Reports: Back in January I blogged about how students could create Cereal Book Book Reports by using a template I created in Google Drawing. Read all about it HERE. Students LOVE this one!
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| Shiloh |
Other similar resources: Design a T-Shirt Collaborative Class Project & Design a Flag Collaborative Class Project.
Create a Quiz: Students could use Google Forms to create a quiz about the book/story they read for others to take. This requires a bit of thinking on their end and they will need to be very familiar with the book in order to come up with different types of questions and their answers.
Picture Books: Students could use Google Slides, PowerPoint, Book Creator or Shadow Puppet EDU to retell the story they read using only pictures. As they flip through the book they created, they can retell the story to any audience.
Puppet Green Screen Video Retelling: Students could retell their story using green screen technology. I learned about this idea from Anita over at Goodwinnovate who does some of the coolest things with green screen technology. Click HERE to read my post about Getting Started with Green Screen.
Digital Presentation: This digital book report template in Google Slides™ that can be found in my TpT Store is an EASY option. Just assign the template to students and they have the option of working on it independently or collaboratively. I also have this available in Spanish.
Click HERE for the listing
Click HERE for the Spanish version listing
Character Text Messages: Students can use a site like ifaketext or an app like Texting Story to create a texting conversation between two characters in the story they read.
Book Trailers: Students can persuade someone to read their book by creating book trailers about the book they have read by using iMovie/iMovie app (lots of different movie trailer templates), Adobe Spark Video, or any other video creation tool of your choice. My favorite is iMovie because it is so easy for students to drag and drop pictures and video clips into the provided storyboard templates.
Diorama Green Screen Video: Another idea involving green screen technology would be to have students design and create a diorama that displays the main setting of the story (if the book has multiple settings then this project may not be the best fit). Using that app, DoInk, or the computer programs, iMovie or WeVideo, students could "report" straight from the setting or reenact one of the main parts of the book. Below is an example that Katie from Elementary Einstein's carried out with her class. They were doing reports about the regions of California but a similar idea could be done with a book report!
Instead of having students create a diorama, they could "report" in front of their book cover:
Code the Story Elements: Students could use a coding program like Scratch or Scratch Jr. to code an interactive story that will help retell their book. They can add their setting, characters, problem and solution. Check out THIS post from Tech with Jen to learn more about Coding and Interactive Story Telling.
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| A Kindergartener in Mrs. Racine's Class Coded Her Story Elements Using Scratch Jr. |
Create a Timeline Retelling the Important Events: There are lots of different digital tools for creating timelines. Check out THIS post I wrote about some of my favorite and extremely EASY options! Just have students leave off the dates and focus more on the sequencing of events. The timeline below was created using a template I created in Google Slides. Click HERE to make a copy.
This book step ladder idea comes from Rhonda Jenkins. Read the description she allowed me to post on my Facebook page:
Since this post is focused on book reports, I thought it would be neat for students to create these book ladders and then hyperlink each book to a special project they created to go into more detail about the story. They could hyperlink to a movie they made, a presentation they created, or digital poster they designed. The possibilities are endless! Google Drawing can turn into an interactive canvas (THINK: Thinglink) and will allow you to hyperlink words, shapes and images.
More Digital Reading Resources You Might Be Interested In:
