Book Talks are a powerful way to share new books with students and encourage them to try out different genres they may not have thought about before.   While I have been doing book talks with my students for years, I wanted to bump it up a notch and not only have them begin to create their own but offer a variety of ways for them to do so. 

One of the first things I did was create a set of signs that I could hang on this portable chart stand that I have in our “Book Talk Corner”. My thinking is that I could hang the signs around the chart stand as reminders of things to mention if they chose to use the iPad to record their book talk into FlipGrid.  I also made a reminder poster to help them with general public speaking skills that I’m going to put in the center of the chart stand.

Next, I created a planning sheet that my students can use to draft out their ideas for their book talk.  My hope was the planning template would help guide them with their writing at first, but then allow them to be more creative in the future.  Eventually, my hope is that get so good at writing their book talks, that they won’t need to use the templates at all!

I also wanted to provide an alternative for my students who are too shy to record their Book Talks on the iPad.  Using the same format, I created paper versions that they could fill out and then hang around the school.  I thought it would be fun to see their recommendations in the hallways by their classrooms, or near the water fountains, etc.!  For younger kids, I made them with an empty box where students could draw a picture of the cover or their favorite part.

I also made versions with lines so that they could write their book talk using the templates above or write a summary of the book.

I thought I might have some students that started off writing their book talk, but then became brave enough to film it on the iPad.  So I made a series of Book Talks to hang with a place to put a QR code for their video on FlipGrid.

Finally, I decided to make a more traditional Book Report version that students can create about their book.

If you are interested in doing this with your kids, you can find it here at my TpT Store or here on my website.  I’ll update with some pictures of my students finished book talks once we get back from our Thanksgiving break!