Welcome to our newest feature – From the Classroom – sharing tips and tricks for integrating a love of middle grade books and authors into your classroom. First up: First Chapter Friday!
First Chapter Friday is a super-easy way to introduce your students to a wide range of books. It can be a weekly feature (like it is in my classroom) or an occasional add-on. All you need is a book with a great hook and 5-10 minutes to read aloud the first chapter.
What is First Chapter Friday?
First Chapter Friday is exactly what it sounds like – read aloud the first chapter of a book… on Fridays. Really, you can choose any day of the week, but it’s hard to pass up the alliteration and rhythm of First Chapter Friday. (On weeks when we miss a Friday, we have taken to also having First Chapter FThursday and First Chapter FWednesday. The week before Thanksgiving is our only First Chapter FTuesday!)
I make a Google Slides page for each First Chapter Friday book we read that features the title, the book cover, and a photograph of the author. The photograph is a key way to remind kids that authors are real, actual people. If an author has many middle grade books I usually make a second slide highlighting those titles, and I might read a blurb or two from those.
My students have a “Books To Read” list in their classroom notebooks, so they can jot down titles and authors that interest them. This is a great way to counteract the “I don’t know what to read” whining. My more industrious students often take their notebooks home and request a bunch of books from the public library to bypass the classroom wait list. Smart!
If you can, it helps to have read the chapter aloud to yourself beforehand. The more fluent and dramatic your read aloud, the more likely you are to hook a range of readers. After you finish the chapter, have an easy way for students to indicate they are interested in the book. In my classroom, everyone just jots their name on a sticky note, and I use a deck of cards with students’ names on them to choose.
It helps to have a system to track who has which books, as First Chapter Friday books often stay in demand for weeks and months. I use a simple spreadsheet with student names in one column and book titles in the rest of the columns. Circles indicate who wants to read a book, and I write in the date when I hand out a book.
What Makes a Great First Chapter Friday Book?
First up, you want a book with a great opener. You only get one chapter, so you need to make it count. Some books are more of a slow burn, and while those are often awesome titles, they aren’t the best choice here. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling is a riot right from the start, and Ghost by Jason Reynolds shifts tone mid-chapter and absolutely grips you.
Cliffhangers are another popular choice. Any book that makes your class audibly groan when you read the end of the chapter is a winner for sure! Battle Dragons by Alex London has such a dramatic cliffhanger (err, apartment-balcony hanger) that I usually have to read the first page of chapter two so everyone can catch their breath.
You also want to vary the books that you share: different genres, different formats, different lengths, authors and characters of different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, gender expression, etc. etc. Students who might never pick up a novel-in-verse might after the first few poems of Alone by Megan Freeman or Starfish by Lisa Fipps. I do a whole series on spooky stories around October, which is always a big hit.
Give it a go!
Take a look at some of the many books recommended here on the Mixed Up Files. Grab a few favorites, a pack of sticky notes, and start reading! You’ll be amazed how fast it builds up your community of readers.
In the comments, please share your favorite middle grade books with thrilling first chapters!
