Elementary students love to perform. Give them the opportunity with a dramatic presentation as an assignment for their book report. Have the students change their favorite scene into a script. The students will be familiar with a script if you use this assignment during the drama unit of your language arts curriculum. During the month, give the students time to practice and perform their scene for your class. The most entertaining presentations can be performed for another classroom.
The students organize the sequence of events in the plot of the story by completing a timeline book report. Provide each student with adding machine paper to complete their timeline. They make at least six entries leading up to the climax of the story and two entries after the climax. Ask the students to include the characters, time and place of each event if it changes from one event to the next. The students draw a picture for all the timeline entries along with a one to two sentence summary of the events.
The students will make a book float for the book parade at your school. Each student needs an empty shoebox to assemble her float on. Students turn the box upside down, cover it with paper and make a scene from the setting on the top of the flipped-over box. The students may use small toys, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, clay, paper or anything their creative energy imagines to create their scene. The title of the book, along with a one to two sentence summary of the book should be on one side of the float. At the end of the month, line up all of your students as the rest of the school files by your book parade.
Begin this activity by asking students to examine the cover of the book they are reading. Make a list on the board of the elements of a book cover. After determining the components of a book cover, the students design a new cover for the book they are reading. The cover assignment can focus on the current unit of study in language arts. For example, if you are focusing on setting, the new cover design focuses on the setting of the story. If you are studying character development and character traits, the students draw their depiction of the main character. The cover should include the title and author of the book also. Display the new covers on a bulletin board above your classroom library to stir interest for other children in the books.