Genre-ly Speaking

Let's jump into READING GENRES! Do you teach and discuss reading genres? I feel like with the ever so popular 40 book challenge genre is a buzz word in education right now...and I love it! I think its so good that we get the opportunity to explore to books with our readers.

Gerne is so important because it's a springboard into reading! I wanted to share some of my favorite tips and activities for teaching about reading genres and weaving throughout the curriculum throughout the school year.

#1 Make it RELATABLE

First--the word genre is kind of fancy. But if you break it down and explain that it's really just a genius word for categories then it isn't that intimidating. Just about everything has categories...food, movies, music...and books too!

My favorite tool that we use are genre notes and we use them throughout the year. As a class we brainstorm keywords that could be found in a book summary or events that happen in a book. We make a list of these key words that are dead giveaways as to what a books genre is.

#2 Make it Hands On

If you are going to focus on genres we have to put books in the hands of our students. I round up chapter books and picture books and create genre mystery bags for students to sort, categorize, and discuss.

There are so many ways to spin this activity! Sometimes I have students search through the books for a specific genre, sometimes they need to "gene-lize" all of the books. It's a great way to get your readers thinking and talking.


#3 IRL Practice (In REAL LIFE)
One of my favorite and super authentic ways to help students determine genre is to print up Goodreads and Amazon book summaries. You can as a class go through the summaries and highlight those keywords and clues...it's real life and real easy. After some class practice it's easy to then have students go through summaries on their own.

A bonus to this activity is often students read a book summary and they want to read THAT book. It's a great assessment but also exposes students to different books. Doesn't get better than that!

#4 Talk the Talk

If we are talking about it then your students will see the importance. When we are reading our #picturebookaday picture book you can bet that we are discussing genre. When students share some favorite books--you know that's the perfect time to ask and tell about genre.

During guided reading/reading groups and book conferences have students share what they know! They can share events in books or keywords that they spot in their reading.

Genre should be a talking point throughout the whole year. I love using these genre posters to write down books that students know in that genre. It's also a great resource if they are searching for a particular book to read in a certain genre

What do you do to teach genres?

You can find the GENRE NOTES here in my TPT store
Those student centered GENRE POSTERS? They're in my TPT store too

If you would like a copy of the mystery bag or what's my genre summary pages just leave a comment below with your email and I'll pass them along :)...until I get them uploaded to gmail or my TPT store.