Reading Fair

This week we have been working on a culminating project and it just happens to be our reading fair boards. 

My mom (who is also a teacher) found tri-fold boards at the Dollar Tree near her and she has done this reading fair for a couple years. She typically sends home the boards with the students with information on what has to be included on the board. She works in a school district that doesn't always have the best parental involvement and has high poverty, but she says she only has one or two students a year that don't bring the board back. 

This year I decided to try it, but I didn't want to send the boards home. I have a group that I was pretty sure wouldn't participate. I didn't want to set my kids up for failure so I bought the boards ($1 per kid so not too shabby) and decided this last full week of school would be a great time to start working. 

Each student picked a book that they read and loved. Then we spent a couple days on the computer typing out the information we needed to go under the headings: Title, Author, Setting, Problem, Solution, Characters, Summary. My mom also included tone and purpose, but I wanted to keep it super simple for my first year. Once they each typed out all their information under the headings, they changed fonts to fit their personality and book. Then we printed them, cut out headings and typed information and put them on a piece of construction paper so they would stand out on our board. 

Next came the fun part: decorating! I did get the kids slightly started on this part. I let each child pick (choices were red, green, black, blue, and yellow) what they wanted their board to be covered in. Then I covered the boards while they were in specials. 

First I laid the trifold face down and taped down the paper to the bottom and top aides of the board. 

Next, I flipped it to the paper side up and practiced folding it so I could smooth out the front and taped the sides. 

Then you are ready to decorate! I'm sure there is a "better" way to do it but it worked just fine and had minimal impact on me or my kids. 

Here are a couple shots in progress. 

They put the typed information on the sides and then illustrated the middle of the board. 

Next year I want to make sure I have plenty of extra odds and ends so they can decorate with Pom-poms, feathers, tissue paper, etc. that way it's really 3-D. They had a blast for the most part. Monday we are going to present our boards. I'll post some finished products then!