Author Study Activities

Ok, so.....I have been doing Author Studies with my 3rd graders for years now

This is how I present my books for the author each month...it looks a little more inviting now, with a table cloth and such. 

...and one of my favorite things to do was the Author Passport!

This is one of the pages of my Jan Brett Passport

The 3rd graders loved this! It has 2 pages and I copied them off and stapled them together. Then, throughout the month, they took AR quizzes on them. If they passed with an 80, 90, or 100% then they got a stamp (or, rather, sticker) for that book...just like a passport! Click HERE to get my full Jan Brett passport.

THEN, I moved down to 2nd grade....and I tried this with my "Beginning of the Year" passport...Click HERE to get that one....and WOA!!! Step back Mrs. Ross!!! I had totally forgotten that this was the year that they REALLY got into it and they could NOT figure out how to take AR quizzes in their "free time."  Wait...free time?? Yea, I know -that was part of the problem. lol. I tried it for one more month with Doreen Cronin, but only a few (like my GSP track kids) were able to do the whole thing.

Sooooo.....I tried knocking it back down to just one sheet - with only 5 quizzes on it.

Click HERE for this one

I had a little bit more of a success with this one....but I really wanted the students to do MORE than just read the books and take AR quizzes on them. So, I came up with a Tic Tac Toe for my Author Study (I do Tic Tac Toes all the time for Spelling and Math - so why not Authors??)

Click HERE to get a copy

Ok....so....tell me what you think?? I worked in Collaboration with our Media Specialist (don't you DARE call her a Librarian! lol) to come up with some of the activities. The middle square is REQUIRED (3 AR quizzes).  And a LOT of these activities I took from Literature Circle Ideas (which I used to do with my 3rd graders as well, but I'll wait until after I get back from maternity leave at the end of February to start that with my 2nd graders. I will make that a WHOLE different post-eek!).

The students can either do this in their free time (ha!!), for homework, or even make it a center!!! For the center, they can do one square for that center time...and then you have a center for 3 different weeks. Or, two different weeks if you want them to take the AR quizzes on their own time.

Can you think of something that I left out or need to change??? This month will be the first month I'll be implementing my new Author Study format. We're doing Arnold Lobel - I just LOVE his books!!! I still have my Frog and Toad All Year from when I was like 8 that I got from (my favorite) aunt! My kids can all see how much the book is "loved." lol.  (We were going to do one of my usual authors, Tomie DePaola - BUT most of his books are mid-high 3rd grade level....oops!) 

Oh! AND I know that Kathy Law over at First Grade a la Carte has TONS of Frog and Toad activities....head on over there and check them out! I'm sure we'll be doing some this month. 

OH!! And does your school have TeachingBooks.net???

No?? WELL, you definitely should talk to your Media Specialist about investing in it!! There are TONS of book resources on it. Arnold Lobel has ELEVEN different book readings (and some of them by famous actors!!), and TWENTY different book guides to do with his books. 

Also, PLEASE share with me how you do author studies in your room! I'd LOVE to get some new ideas :) If you've already posted something on your Author Studies, PLEASE feel free to provide the link. I'd LOVE to make this a LINKY PARTY...but I'm not sure how! lol...feel free to help me out with that one and I'd be happy to turn it into one!