Books are my love language friends. My classroom library is epic, and I’ve always been super proud of it. I have always used a book hospital to preserve my books as long as possible, but what do you do with books that are past the point of no return? Those books that look like they need the book morgue, are waving a white flag, are just past the point of use? Well, we can give them new life and turn them into FRANKENBOOKS!
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What in the world are Frankenbooks?
Frankenbook is a term I made up to describe books that have been given new life! Today, I’m going to share 6 ways you can bring new life to books in your classroom instead of throwing them away.
1. Sequencing Practice
The first way you can bring a book back to life is, well, to first tear it apart. Cut the pages out of the book, laminate, and then have your students practicing putting the book pages back in order! This works best with shorter books that have strong picture cues. It is a great activity that will help your students analyze pictures and context clues. It can also serve as a reminder for their own stories and the importance of making their stories make sense.
You could put them on a binder ring or in a binder and students could simply continue to read the story like normal.
2. Retelling Practice
Another fun option is great for some good ol’ fashion oral language practice! Cut the pages out of the book, cut off the words, laminate, and then you can attach them together in a binder or with a binder ring. Have students look at the pictures and retell the story or come up with their own story based on the pictures. You could even add sequencing words to the pages to help them practice transition words. Additionally, you could have them write a story using the pictures as well.
3. Illustrate the Story
This is basically the opposite of the last option, and you could actually use the text from the book(s) above. Cut out the text, laminate, and then have students read and illustrate. They could illustrate just one page, or you could have them do multiple pages or the whole story. This is a great way to check their comprehension in a FUN and engaging way! Does their picture match the story?
4. Writing Prompts
Cut out and laminate as many pages from the book that you’d like to use, laminate, and use them as picture prompts for work on writing!
5. Label the Picture
This is a fun activity for word work! Just as above, cut the pages out of the book and laminate the pictures you’d like to use. Then, give students a dry erase marker and have them label the things, people, and animals in the picture! This is a great way to have them practice sounding out and figuring out the spelling of unknown words as well.
6. Continue the Story
A final option is to select certain pages from the book, cut them out, and laminate. Then, you can have your students read the page and continue the story! This would work well for work on writing as well!
Do you have more ideas for how you can bring life back to your books? Comment and let me know!
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