July 3, 2014

Super Teacher Tip #14: Start a Movie Book Club


Encourage independent reading by starting a Movie Book Club. Oooo- we had some fun in my class with this one!!

Here's the basic gist of the Movie Book Club:

  • I'd pick an age-appropriate book that was also made into an age-appropriate movie. 
  • I'd give the kids a deadline by which the book had to be read and the AR quiz had to be passed (if you don't have AR, you could just make a quick 10 question quiz that students can take to prove they read the book).
  • Those students who read the book by the deadline would be invited to stay after school one day and watch the movie. They'd bring their pillows and a bag of popcorn with them to school that day and we'd watch the movie while I did my after-school paper grading and lesson planning. 
A few ways you can make this work in your room:


  • Instead of doing it after school, you could offer to let the kids eat lunch in the room and watch it over three days.
  • Send home a parent permission slip if the movie is PG or higher. No point in upsetting parents by making it a surprise.
  • Make the book your read-aloud book that you do with the kids and spend a few minutes each day reading it to them. Then the whole class can watch the movie.
  • Instead of taking the AR quiz, you could have students write a short book report- we need to slip in a little writing practice when we can, am I right?
If you need help coming up with some book/movie combos to use, check out this list of 150 books that have been turned into movies.

What fun things do you do to encourage reading in your room?

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What's a"Super Teacher?" Any teacher that's trying his or her very best to create effective teaching moments and provide a positive classroom environment.  We Super Teachers aren't perfect teachers by a long-shot, but we are always striving to become better teachers. Read more Super Teacher Tips here!

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