Book reports have always had a negative connotation with them. A lot of kids hate reading, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that it is because most times they are asked to do a book report after they get done reading. That is like asking a picky kid to eat their vegetables and then when they are done asking them to eat a side of asparagus! Luckily enough though there is a way around this dilemma. There is a quote that states, “Everyone that hates reading just hasn’t found a book they like yet”. The same is true for book reports! Cereal box book reports are one of the answers to this problem. They provide a book report that is fun and engaging for students of all ages. Below are the things you will need to make these book reports happen.
Cereal Boxes
This may seem like a no brainer but you want to make sure that you have plenty of cereal boxes ready for students to use. This can be a big task if you are an elementary school teacher with a class of 40 students. For middle school teachers with course loads of 200 plus students that task can be overwhelming. Try these tips and tricks to be ready for the project.
- Ask students to bring their own boxes in
- Save up cereal boxes and use your class closet to store them
- Ask other teachers to donate boxes in the month preceding the project
Preparation can always help make this project go easier. One thing to think about as well is having a couple of backup boxes for students that may forget theirs. Also, a couple of backup boxes may be good options for students who bring in boxes that may be too small or beat up.
Supplies
Before beginning your cereal box book report it is also important to make sure that your classroom and students will have all the materials needed to complete the project. If you want students to complete this project in class it may make it easier to have a classroom set of materials for students to use. This will help students be more productive and use their time more efficiently. The materials students will need access to are:
- Scissor
- Markers
- Colored pencils
- Crayons
- Glue or glue sticks
- Tape
- Stickers
While this list isn’t an exhaustive list of every material that a student will want to use to trick out their project it is definitely a good starting point. Oftentimes there are going to be students who will want to use materials that they bring from home and that is always welcome.
Templates
The last major piece that students will need is the template for the book report. If you are able to get boxes of all roughly the same size it is easy to print a classroom set of templates. For boxes of different sizes though this can be tricky. Luckily enough the dimensions of a standard box of cereal is 12 inches high, 8 inches wide and 1 and ¾ inches deep. This will make it easy to print out the following pieces of the cereal box book report as a template.
- The front
- The front should be a graphic illustration inspired by the book.
- All that is needed here is a blank piece of paper
- The back
- The back should be fun activities inspired by the book
- Depending on the level of the student you can have multiple activities
- The left side
- Often the left side of the box is the ingredients
- This should be the setting and the main characters section
- The right side
- This should include the problem, solution and summary
- The prize
- One of the things that gets everyone’s attention at the store is the prize in the cereal box
- Have students create a prize inspired by the book and advertise it somewhere on the box
- Bonus points for students that actually include the prize!
For more information or help be sure to follow the link and see great examples and resources to create your very own cereal box book report.
About The Author
Michelle Joe
Michelle Joe is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences, and express herself through her blogs. You can find her on twitter
