This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Elementary and Middle School Book Reports.
Elementary and Middle School Book Reports
We are excited to bring you a new thing from 7SistersHomeschool!
Featured in this article:
Did you have similar experiences with book reports?
This sounds like a lot, but the young people had a blast.
And so, you know what we did? (Book report form)
Book report writing for elementary and middle schoolers
What goes into a book report?
Title of book
Author
Characters
Setting
Summary
Personal reflection
Resources for elementary and middle school homeschoolers
Do you remember back when you were in elementary school and early middle school, when your teachers made you write book reports?
We do not know about you, but we had teachers who made book reports feel special, and we kids actually had fun doing them.
Did you have similar experiences with book reports?
Vicki remembers sixth grade; her teacher had the class write a book report on any book they chose.
The teacher, Miss Huberner, would take the students to the library, and we would pick novels to read. When they finished, she gave them a book report form.
This book report form guided students through the writing process. Back then, they had to write the report longhand and then make their own cover. The cover could be an illustration from the book, a copy of the cover, or something creative like a collage on the front of the book report.
This sounds like a lot, but the young people had a blast.
The book report became an art project. It turned into an expository writing experience.
Then, when they completed their book reports, Miss Huberner would hang a clothesline across the blackboards. The students would clothespin their book reports on that clothesline, decorating the room with them.
Then, for several days, we would take a few minutes each day to read each other’s book reports. We got inspiration from other young people about what they had read.
We students found that writing book reports really brought books alive, and sharing about our books became a community experience where we enjoyed reading and inspired each other.
Lately, more parents have asked us for a book report form or template they can use to do similar things with their homeschoolers.
And so, you know what we did?
We Sisters said to each other, “Let’s pull on our memories and our experiences and make a book report template for our homeschooling friends so young people can have the joy of doing a book report that is fun and inspirational.”
Next, our 7Sister Marilyn sat down with 7Sister Allison’s husband, Wayne. You all know that Wayne created the delightful 7Sisters literature activity guides for young readers. Wayne created these activity guides during his career as an elementary school teacher.
These activity guides are based on favorite children’s books like Curious George and Max Lucado’s You Are Special. The guides include:
Fun phonics activities
Learning games
Critical thinking questions
Fiction or non-fiction?
First pages: d
Did you know that you can download Max Lucado’s You Are Special Literature Activity Guide for FREE? Give it a try.
Book report writing guide for elementary and early middle school
Wayne and Marilyn worked together on a template so young people have a book report form they can use for their initial book report writing. Once students get that down, they can use their own creativity to create their own book report form, or reuse this guide.
They can reuse the book report form because it is an editable template. If they can’t type, or you want to type with them, you can use this editable book report template. Or you can download it, print it, and have your homeschooler handwrite it.
The purpose of writing the reports is to digest what they’re learning from reading the book, to interact with the book on a deeper level than just simply reading. And sometimes, like in our sixth grade class where we were sharing book reports, it’s hopefully to inspire someone else to read the book.
What goes into a book report?
What goes into a book report?
One thing you’ve got to know is that there’s not ONE right way to homeschool, and there’s not one right way to do a book report.
You can start the first book report by working together, or your youngsters may be ready to do it on their own. Remember, these ideas and experiences will help them prepare for the high school reading and writing they will be doing in just a few years.
First, a book report needs to include the book’s title.
This is obvious and easy. A good way to start!
Next, they need to add the author.
The next skill they want to learn is adding the publication date.
For middle schoolers, this is an important tool that helps them understand the author’s perspective. If they know the date of publication, they kind of have an idea of a little bit of what was going on at that time period. (You know, how people might have been living and thinking.)
Also, no matter what time period it was written in, young people need to look at the page that lists the publication date and the publisher so they can include the publisher. They will be doing that on research papers in a few years.
They will also want to note whether it is fiction or nonfiction.
Younger students may have to think about it sometimes. By the time they get to middle school, it’s a no-brainer.
Also, if it’s fiction, we want to know its genre. Is it:
Historical fiction?
Mystery?
Adventure?
If it’s nonfiction, what is the genre? Is it:
Biography?
How-to book?
Science or a history topic?
Then, they will want to include who the main characters are.
In a novel, it’s really important to identify the main character or main characters
The characters who go along with them (sidekicks or other additional characters)
Often in nonfiction, the young people will kind of have to talk to mom about that. Like, what would a main character in a nonfiction book be?
If it’s a science book about animals in the African Sahara, the main characters would be animals in the African Sahara.
In a biography, the person the book is about is the main character.
Next, your homeschooler will be adding the setting.
Part of a book report is identifying the place and time about which the book is written.
In a novel, that is pretty easily identifiable most of the time.
In a nonfiction book, such as a biography, the setting is usually easy to identify.
However, in a how-to or a science book, your homeschooler might need some help. The only setting might be “modern times”.
Then they will write a short summary of the book.
So in an initial book report for a novel, they do not regurgitate the entire book. They are giving a quick summary of the book:
The beginning of the book
The middle of the book
And the end of the book
Marilyn and Wayne suggest not including spoilers. Your student can omit the plot twists and surprises.
In nonfiction, they simply write a brief description of the book’s topic and share a few examples that stood out to them.
For instance, in a biography, your student would talk about
Where the person was born
What they are famous for
Important people in their lives
Significant moments in their lives
Next, students discuss the author’s purpose.
This takes perspective-taking and can be challenging for some younger people. You can ask them:
“What would the author be wanting you to experience or think about as you read the book?”
There is not one answer because we can’t read the author’s mind. However, it’s a good critical-thinking exercise.
You might suggest the author’s purpose might be:
To inform. “I’m gonna tell you how to do this thing.”
Or to persuade. (For example, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was meant to make people uncomfortable with slavery.)
It might be just for entertainment. Many novels are just there for fun, and that is absolutely wonderful.
They wrap up the book report with a personal reflection.
A personal reflection is great for students of any age. It helps them explain their feelings about the book. They could talk about things such as:
Did they find the book interesting?
Or was it challenging?
Was it enjoyable?
Did it change your perspective on anything?
They could also explain whether they would recommend the book. If so, what kind of person would enjoy that book? (How old would they be? Do they have to have a certain personality?)
These are the areas to cover in an introductory-level book report.
To help students write a book report, you will love these resources from 7SistersHomeschool.com:
Book Summary Chart (Freebie). Students fill in the chart trying to organize their thoughts and understanding as they read.
The Book Report Template is $2.99.
Our purpose was to give homeschoolers and homeschool parents confidence and support as they launch into the delight of book reports. So, we hope you hop over to 7SistersHomeschool.com and enjoy doing some book reports.
Remember: there’s not ONE right way to homeschool, and there’s not one right way to have a kid. They’re all different. But we can use the tools that are out there, like free book summary charts or book reports, and adapt them to our elementary and middle schoolers’ needs!
Stay in touch
If you’ve got any questions, please go to 7SistersHomeschool Facebook Group. Share those questions with the group. So many 7th Sisters in that group share wise experiences and bits of advice! (By the way, who are the 7Sisters? So there are six of us 7Sisters. There’s Vicki, Sabrina, Kim, Marilyn, Allison, and Sarah.
Who’s the 7th Sister? YOU are!
Thanks for being part of the homeschool community. We are all in this together.
Keep Listening:
Homeschooling Middle School Your Way
Great Books and Literature Guides for Middle Schoolers
Middle Schoolers, Transcripts, and High School Credits
Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing!
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