Challenge your students to engage more with their reading with classroom discussion questions and art projects based on the books they read! These hands-on book reports are great activities to get students excited about what they are reading. They also pair well with any animal reports on orcas, penguins and polar bears.
How to Make Books with Children: Read a Book – Make a Book
(grades 1–6) is an activity book that encourages engaged reading in and out of the classroom! Students will read one of the suggested titles, which cover reading levels from grades 1–6, and then respond to the reading with their own handmade book! This activity book provides book recommendations, discussion questions, and instructions on how to make different types of books! Get the entire Read a Book – Make a Book here.
Animal-Themed Reading Books
The animal-themed books below are engaging and fun stories for students to read and respond to!
Orca Song, by Michael C. Armour, is one of the featured titles in Read a Book – Make a Book, and is paired with prompts about orca whales and similes! The unit that focuses on the book also includes a poem about orca whales and complete instructions about how to make your own killer whale book. Purchase this unit from Teachers Pay Teachers here.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater, is an incredibly popular children’s book, and is a great book to read in the wintertime! This unit comes with a poem, discussion questions, project ideas, and complete instructions and reproducibles to make a penguin-shaped book! Purchase this unit from Teachers Pay Teachers here.
Continue the winter book theme by using this unit, about Polar, the Titanic Bear, by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden. This book was written about the Titanic disaster, made into a children’s tale, and written from the perspective of the author’s son’s teddy bear. The unit includes a short poem, discussion questions, and instructions and materials to make a pop-up book shaped like a ship. Find this unit on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
Making a paper book is a fun project that can be done at home, too! Encourage your kids to expand their creativity by writing their own stories, poems, and responses in their own books!
Steps to make a paper book:
- Materials: white printer paper, construction paper, stapler or ribbon (for binding)
- Fold a piece of construction paper in half, hamburger style.
- Fold several pieces of printer paper the same way, sliding them inside your construction paper book cover.
- Include as many as you want, but if it is too thick, your stapler might struggle with the binding.
- Make sure all your pages are lined up.
- For staple binding: Now staple the cover, as close to the left edge (or spine) as possible while still getting all your pages stapled.
- For ribbon binding: Punch a hole in your cover and pages about an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom.
- Thread a piece of narrow ribbon, yarn, or twine through the holes and tie it along the spine.
- Let your child write!
Hint: Remember to leave white space if you want to illustrate your own book!
Children can use their own paper books to write stories, recipes, lists, journals, or picture books! Inspire students with writing prompts or story ideas!
Writing prompts:
- Write a story about:
- A polar bear that gets lost.
- An orca who swims to Mexico
- A penguin that makes a friend
Making your own book is a creative way to engage students with reading books and creating a memorable project. Have children write a story, whether true or made up, about a family member! They can write about their family member as a superhero or a favorite memory they share together.
Encourage your kids to illustrate their own stories too, and read them in class! Check out Read a Book – Make a Book for book recommendations and inspiration for your students’ own stories and homemade books!
Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.