Grab Bag Reports

I was perusing the many ideas for responding to literature and book reports in the Reading section of this site. A fellow teacher recently shared an idea of her's, and several of my collegues and I have found it to be a wonderful way to have kids give a book talk. She calls it the "Grab Bag Book Talk". Students select some objects which are vehicles for retelling the story. They put them in a bag, and pull out each object one by one, explaining how the object relates to the story. I tightened up the requirements for my students, feeling that setting clear expectations allows more students to be successful. I require the following:

• at least six objects, and for the following purposes - one which represents the setting, two for the main character, two for the plot, and one for the conflict of the story. *
• one paragraph written ahead of time about each object, put on an index card

• bag has title and author, and has at least one illustration; I also encourage students to pick an appropriate bag, such as a duffle bag for an athlete, or a suitcase for a main character who has just moved, etc. (this is not always possible, of course, but kids can try).

• time limit of 5-7 minutes; evidence of having rehearsed the book talk

Some of the advantages of this type of book talk are

• the student really has to read the whole book to prepare the book talk
• the student can be creative without having to be a Rembrant artist (some students thrive on art-based projects, but others cringe)
• the book talks are fun to watch