How I Introduce the 40-book challenge to My Students

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So you want to complete the 40 book challenge with your class? Let’s chat for a minute about how you can introduce the challenge to your students in a way that will get them excited about reading.

The first year I did the challenge, I simply told my students we were each going to read 40 books that year. I talked about the genres they would read from, and how many books that would mean they would read on average per week. I then answered any questions that they might have had. I didn’t get much buy-in from my students at the beginning. Many of them felt it was “just another thing my teacher is making me do.” Over the years, I’ve realized that there are some small and simple things that I can do, in order to make my students become more excited to complete this challenge.

1. Tell a Story

Rachelle, over at What the Teacher Wants on Instagram, did the 40-book challenge with her 6th graders and had a brilliant idea for introducing it to them. She started off by telling them a story about two girls that wanted to be on the basketball team. One girl went out and practiced shooting baskets each morning. She spent a lot of time working on her dribbling and ball-handling skills. The other girl really wanted to be on the basketball team too, but when she got home from school every day, she sat on the couch and watched Netflix and ate Cheetos. Which girl do you think made it onto the basketball team? It isn’t difficult for the students to figure this one out. 

When I did this with my students, I told a similar story. I changed the sport to soccer because that's what interests more of my students. They loved the story though. Adding some fun "pump up" music really got my kids invested in what I was talking about. (I played the Space Jam theme song for them-they loved it!)

2. Help Students Discover the “Why” Behind the 40 Book Challenge

This part is so important in order to get your students excited about the challenge. If you’ve worked with children in any capacity, you know that they want to know why we do things. The same holds true with this challenge.

Now, once I told the story, we talked about what it could have to do with reading. Students were able to pick up the more we practice reading, the better we get. I tell the students about how each year we set goals. I see many students set a goal to become better readers. But they never figure out how exactly they are going to do that. I tell them about how I want them all to become better readers, even if they do think that they are "a pretty good reader" to begin with. We talk about how becoming a better reader means practicing reading. As we read 40 books throughout the school year, we will become better readers. By using a story to teach my students, they became more invested in the challenge because they knew why we were doing what we were doing.

3. Be Excited About the Challenge

Have you ever noticed that students will pick up on your energy? If you aren’t having a good day, how much more likely is it that your students will feel that and will also tend to drag themselves down? The opposite is also true. If you were very excited about something, and you communicate your excitement to them, students will often mirror your excitement and energy. 

In order for your students to be excited about reading 40 books, you need to be excited about it too (even if you really aren't). One of my colleagues really didn't enjoy reading, but her students had no idea. She made it seem like the most amazing thing in the world to them. She was a phenomenal actress in her classroom when it came to reading. 

I tell my students that I will be participating with them too, and I'm so thrilled to be able to read so many new and amazing books. I talk about the wonderful places I will visit and the new characters I will meet as I read with them.

4. Plan for Time to Answer Questions

Your students will have questions about the challenge. Make sure you have planned a time to answer those questions with your students. Spend some time thinking about the types of questions your students might ask. I'm compiling a list of frequently asked questions and will have a blog post ready for you soon!

Want More Info on the Challenge?

This is Part 2 in a 6-part series about the 40 book challenge. Each week I'll post a new blog post that talks about one of the aspects of the challenge. Check out these blog posts to learn more!

Part 1: Why I Ditched Reading Logs and What I Do Instead

Part 3: How to Track the 40-Book Challenge

Part 4: Creating a Book Tasting Experience for the 40-Book Challenge

Part 5: FAQ about the 40-Book Challenge