Julie in Grade 7 is game for anything. We had a pretty good brainstorming session and somehow got on to the subject of the school's Read-a-Thon. It’s a great way for primary students to develop their literacy skills and passion for books. But, for the older students in the school, it can be a real chore. It’s simply not enough to challenge them to read as many books as they can in two weeks, especially if they aren’t learning new skills.
So we asked, “How can we help foster a joy for reading and literacy in other creative ways?”
We thought, let’s have the Grade 7 class create read-aloud videos for their Grade 2 buddies! The Grade 7 students will choose a book they think their buddy would like, take photos of the books, and record audio of themselves reading in fun voices 👻, and add sound effects 🧨 ! Julie really liked the idea, and thinks her students would have fun being digital creators with a literacy spin.
To take things to the next level, they’ll work with their music teacher to create custom sound effects and original soundtracks using Garageband on their iPads. (Check out Volume 17 of the Classroom Chronicles for more details on music making).
Here’s an example:
With this project, the older students are actively helping the younger grades to get excited about reading, while building their skills as digital creators.
How do you create excitement around reading in your class?
Until next week,
The Classmate Team
As a bonus, here’s a few of our favourite royalty free music resources.
- incompetech Music Search - You might recognize the songs from your favourite Youtube and Tiktok videos!
- Sound of Picture - Music for any genre
- BBC Sound Effects - Thousands of high-quality sounds