Earlier this year I had my students make genre posters to help them become familiar with the different genres that we were going to be reading and discussing throughout the year. I like to use Beth Newingham’s genre posters because I love how they have a description of the genre and sample texts.
(I downloaded these from her website a couple years ago, but the site is no longer active)
Then I gave each student a piece of white construction paper, which we folded to make 10 sections and labeled with the different genres. Next I brought out a HUGE pile of all my extra copies of Scholastic book order catalogs (I swear, I get at least 2 copies of every catalog for some reason), and they started looking for books to cut out and sort under the genre headings!
It was SO much fun, and my kiddos were sharing books with each other left and right! I also loved that they were using the genre “language” as they were looking for the books, and helping out other students at their tables.
Some genres were a bit harder to find in the catalogs (especially traditional literature), so I had them draw pictures of books if they couldn’t find examples.
My kiddos had a ton of fun learning about the different genres and finding examples of them! This also opened discussion to the genres that they read in class and at home. We added a list and description of each genre (also by Beth Newingham) to our Reading and Writing Notebooks, and now they record the genre of the books that they are reading in their reading log!
Hope you are having a great weekend!
I love this idea Molly! Thank you!! 馃檪
Love this idea!! So cute and interactive.
Thanks…this will be great on the LONG week we have before break. Fun, but still educational.
Pat
Oh my goodness! I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.
Kristi
Great idea! I think I'll try and work this in to my mini-lessons before the break. Thanks!
Katie
I Want to be a Super Teacher
Fantastic idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
Amy
3 Teacher Chicks
Hi, just discovered your blog today. I love this idea as I get so many extra copies of book order forms too. Thanks for sharing!
Marlene
I Heart Teaching Elementary