One of the most important times of my school day is our independent reading time.  It's sacred--and we have even been given the directive from our district office to support that.  All elementary students MUST have 30 minutes of independent reading per day.  That means if they are pulled for interventions or small groups, they cannot be pulled from independent reading. We all know that students learn to read by reading.  End of story. That being said, once in a while, it's fun to shake things up a bit!  Whether you've had a long string of indoor recess days or just need to bring in a little fun, maybe some of these activities will be just what you need! Lights out, flashlights on! One thing that students of ALL ages love is reading with flashlights!  You can ask for donations or watch for sales...but turning out the lights and snuggling down with a flashlight is a ton of fun.  Not enough for everyone?  Combine it with buddy readin......

Although we may only think of using fables in lower grades, using fables in upper elementary can be very beneficial. Not only are fables an excellent genre for teaching morals and themes in stories, but because they are short, they are wonderful to use when comparing and contrasting the treatment of similar themes and topics. Using these short stories can be both beneficial and fun, even for our older students. Finding Free Resources Finding free resources for teaching fables is easier than you may think. One wonderful resource can be found at Library of Congress.  This website contains a list of classic Aesop fables that you can print or display with your overhead projector for your entire class to use.  Another website is Aesop's Fables that also contains a large list of fables. A Fun "Fable Strip" Activity Recently, my students read a variety of fables that I printed from Library of Congress. The students discussed the morals of each fable, compared f......