Can we all agree that students who are motivated and engaged will become better readers? If we want students to be motivated, we must be too! If we want students to be engaged in activities linked to reading, we must be too! I hope that this post renews your love for literacy and puts a little pep in your step! Happy Fall Ya'll!!!
Use The Season To Motivate Yourself
Something as simple as a pumpkin can change the way that students engage with reading! There are so many activities that can be inspired by a simple orange gourd!
- Classroom Decision Making - Vote on what character you will paint on a pumpkin
- Write 'How To Decorate A Pumpkin'
- Descriptive writing on what the inside of a pumpkin looks like
- Science extension - how my pumpkin seed became a plant
- Math extension - counting pumpkin seeds (estimate how many seeds)
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Adorable Clifford pumpkin to motivate 1st graders! |
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Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus Series |
Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
There have been many days that I get into my car dressed as a literary character and pray that I do not get pulled over. I imagine myself explaining how I'm trying to motivate my students to read..... hoping that the police officer is a parent of a school-aged student. That being said, I love it! Your students will beam with excitement and be engaged all day long. Character dress up is not just that...... it can be so much more:
- teaching text-to-text connections
- introducing characterization
- discussing literary elements
- genre talks (realistic fiction)
- Venn diagram about teacher vs. character
Surround Yourself With Positive and Motivated Educators
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- collaborate in planning
- not be the only one dressed up
- have Pinterest parties to create activities
- share great reads
- keep each other sane (smile)
Fun Books For Reading For Fall Ya'll
This is no surprise - we must read to students! They must hear us reading! So many teachers are overwhelmed with data and assessments that we forget about the most enjoyable thing that we can do: read to our students!!! We must make time to sit them down and let them listen to a story. Sneak a book in as an anticipatory set whenever you can. Here are some fun choices for this time of year. We constantly tell our students to use the library (school and public)..... shouldn't we be using it too?
- The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano
- The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll
- Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach
- The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
- Room On The Broom by Julia Donaldson
- Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
- The Scariest Dream Ever by Maria T. DiVencenzo
- Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
- There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro
Please Share What You Do!
It was easy for me to think of engaging ways to motivate students in October/Fall but we have many more months of school left to go! I look forward to hearing what you do to motivate and engage your students throughout the year. Please let me know what you, your co-workers, and/or school does to foster the love of reading in our littlest ones.

Great ideas! I love the pumpkins, too!
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