Stop the “Reading is Boring” Excuse
It is easy to agree that reading is important. It is one thing that is on almost every test. The number one thing that combats the summer slide is reading about 30 minutes a day. However, for many people reading is boring.
Reading can help students learn any topic depending on what books they are picking. Despite these benefits reading for many students can be boring. Getting them to read may be harder than asking them to eat broccoli. It may make your tutoring sessions seem like they will never end and leave you frustrated. The key to making reading fun is finding books that your students like.
The first questions that I usually ask new reading students are what they enjoy and like to read about. It makes my future sessions with them much smoother. In this post, I will list six of my favorite books growing up, give you reading lists for your students, and show you how to make comprehension easy.
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Books Don’t Have to Be Boring
Reading is boring it is probably something that all of us have heard. Maybe followed by don’t make me read and a screaming fit until we just give up. I have seen this from older students. However, I have also seen preschoolers be fascinated by books and light up when they read them. I have seen older students fall in love with certain characters and read an entire series dedicated to that character. The key is finding topics and books they love and focusing on that. Below are my six favorite books or series for all grade levels
1)The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (preschool-kindergarten)
This book is one of my all-time favorites for little ones. First off the pictures are absolutely beautiful it’s amazing how Eric Carle does all of his pictures. Also, the theme is perfect for littles (preschool-kindergarten) it has them counting the number of things that the caterpillar eats, learning the days of the week, and learning about the life cycle of butterflies. There are so many fun arts and crafts that you can do with this book. You could also have a feast of all the things the caterpillar ate. The littles will love this book, and it will definitely grab their attention.
2) Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (1st and 2nd grade)
When I was in the 1st grade we had this thing that we called fun food Fridays. On Fridays, we got a chance to make food that was based on the book that we read that week. I will never forget the week that we read Green Eggs and Ham. I have always been a sucker for a good rhyme, and Dr. Seuss makes some of the best rhymes ever. I found this book utterly hilarious.
When we made green eggs and ham on Friday, I was excited and kind of grossed out at the same time. Eggs and Ham are not supposed to be green but that makes the experience even more awesome especially when you are a kid. You can read this book with your students and make them green eggs and ham. If you have online students you can give them the recipe. All you need to make them green is a little food coloring and it will definitely be an experience your students remember.
3) The Junie B Jones Series By Barbara Park (2nd grade- 3rd grade)
Get ready for Junie B. Jones a hilarious kindergartner or 1st grader depending on which books you are reading in the series. Junie B. gets into some crazy antics and is always seemingly making trouble. Although, she usually blames it on someone else. I loved these books when I was younger, and my students love them now. This is a series that if your student loves it there will be plenty of books for them to read over the summer. Another series like Junie B. Jones is the Cam Jansen series which is also a favorite of my students.
4) Holes by Louis Sachar (4th-5th grade)
Holes is amazing. I remember staying up late to finish this book because I thought it was that awesome. I definitely was that kid that would stay up late to read. I was a bit of a bookworm. This story follows Stanley Yelnats VI who is falsely accused of stealing a pair of shoes and is sent to a camp for delinquent boys where they dig holes in the sun day in and day out. Things really get exciting when Stanley discovers that they are really digging holes to help the leader of the camp find a long lost treasure. It has most things that you would want in a book and is perfect for upper elementary.
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5) The Hunger Games Series By Suzanne Collins (Middle School)
So I did not read this series until I was an adult but once I did I had the whole thing read within a week. This series deals with mature themes and I wouldn’t recommend it for students younger than middle school. However, middle schoolers and up will be intrigued by this world where kids are sent to battle to the death on a yearly basis to keep the “peace” of the culture. They will also find themselves getting behind the revolution that Katniss starts to do the right thing.
6) Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury (High School)
I first read Fahrenheit 451 in my freshman year of high school and this probably started my love for dystopian fiction. To this day some of my favorite books tell of societies that are supposed to be perfect but are utterly messed up and a disaster. 1984, and Animal Farm being prime examples of this. Fahrenheit 451 follows the story of Montag, a firefighter. However, in this society firefighters start fires instead of putting them out. They specifically burn books to stop the promotion of free thinking. This book handles bigger themes that high schoolers are ready to take on while remaining an interesting read.
Find Books they Love
The number one way to stop the reading is boring excuse is to find books that your students love. If they are reading books that they don’t like, then reading will be boring to them. Find the books they like and give them a lot of books that are similar to their favorites.
For more suggestions on good books for your kids follow these links to book lists for all grade levels.
Reading is Good but What About Comprehension?
Simply reading is not enough students need to understand what they are reading and be able to articulate those thoughts. There are some questions that you can use to help facilitate reading comprehension with your students. Here are the three main ones.
- What happened in the story you are reading?
- What do you think about that? (is that good, bad, etc?)
- What did you like and not like about this story?
These questions can be adapted for different levels the middle schoolers and high schoolers may be able to answer them in a more in-depth way. Elementary schoolers’ answers will range in length. Preschoolers probably will not be able to answer these questions but you can have them point to different characters in the story i.e. where is the pig etc. This will start them thinking about what is happening in the story. They also may answer simply like the pig went bye-bye. If the pig left. The main thing is to find books that your students love and then be engaging with them to grow their comprehension skills.
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