Adding cute and cuddly plush animals to the reading nook in your classroom can encourage youngsters to explore various books or attempt to read aloud. Purchase some book sets that each contains a plush animal and themed books and use the items to set up various activities for the pupils to utilize.
Reenactments
Purchase some props that relate to a story that has an animal as the main character. For instance, if one of the book sets that you purchase includes a plushie giraffe and a series of books that relate to visiting a zoo and feeding and observing the other animals, buy a miniature zoo set that contains a zookeeper, animals, and cage replicas.
You could place all of the props in a toy box and set the box alongside the area where the reading exercise will take place. After requesting that the children sit down around where you are seated, you can show them the giraffe plushie and tell the children that they will have the opportunity to use the props to portray what happens in the book.
You can encourage the children to listen carefully while you read or point out different pictures in the book. Upon completing the story, you may want to call on several of the children and ask them to use the plushie and the box of props to act out some different parts of the story.
Mascots
Additionally, you could use the plushies as mascots that are displayed next to the group of books that relate to them. Place each set of books in a basket and line the baskets up along a shelf. Place the corresponding animal in each basket.
During solo reading sessions, tell the children to line up and take turns selecting a mascot and a book that is in the basket where the mascot was originally displayed. Because the children may be interested in playing with all of the animals, they may be eager to read books from each of the baskets that are within the classroom.
To avoid one of the plushies being selected by a student several times in a row, you may want to take note of which basket of books is selected by a student and tell the children that you are requiring them to explore a different book basket during each solo reading session. During a solo reading session, the children can read aloud to their mascots or they can each hold onto an animal while they read silently to themselves.
For more information, contact a company that offers options like giraffe plushies and children's book sets.
