Origin
People pick up reading out of requirement or enjoyment or BOTH at different times in their lives making reading a lifelong skill.
Throughout college, I participated in reading challenges in various groups on Goodreads.com, along with my assigned reading for class. Before entering the classroom in 2015, I was brainstorming independent reading ideas and running them by family, friends, and colleagues. I was encouraged to shy away from the reading challenge set up look at a established reading craze – Reading Bingo boards!
Overview
Reading Bingo was developed to encourage lifelong reading habits. This independent reading unit is grounded in student choice and exploration into a wide variety of genres, authors, and books. The unit is implemented between September and May during the school year.
Each student is required to read and review two books per academic quarter of the school year. This equates to one book a month with January being skipped due to holiday breaks and the end/beginning of each semester. Students can tackle the Reading Bingo! board in any order they wish and are not required to earn a Reading Bingo!
Book Guidelines
Each book that a student selects must follow the following guidelines:
- At least 150 pages (exceptions are considered on a case-by-case basis)
- Not being read or was read in a high school English course
- Reported during Reading Roll Call
- Only counted for one square on the board
The Review
After completing the book and in order to claim the square of choice, a review must be written. Each review is graded for completion, student analysis, and proper use of language mechanics.
The components of a review are:
- Basic Information
- Recommendation
- Rating
- Essential Question Analysis (varies based on class)
- Important decisions/behaviors of characters
- Literary theory application/analysis
- Leadership
- Favorite elements, characters, moments, plot points, etc.
If a student wishes to read more than two books per quarter, they are able to earn extra credit. These extra reviews must earn at least an 80% to be counted. Students may also earn extra credit by earning a Reading Bingo, which is a traditional five-in-a-row bingo.
Reading = Success
(Lent, 2016, p. 57).
Previous Reading Bingo Boards
References:
Fields, C. (2014). Literary theories [PowerPoint slides].
Lent, R.C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: Reading, writing, talking, and doing … content area by content area. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.