Book Tasting for Primary Students

I cannot say enough about how much I loved our Book Tasting Day!  My students were so engaged and the discussions that they were having about different genres of books was absolutely amazing.  I wish that I could have recorded their conversations.  It was truly a melt my heart teacher moment.

How do I host a Book Tasting in my classroom?

I like to set the stage when I am doing an activity like this, but I also don’t want to spend a lot of money or a lot of time doing it.  Let’s face it….life is busy!  I purchased red checkered tablecloths, glass vases, fake flowers, and battery-powered candles from Dollar Tree.  I also purchased a class set of chef hats off of Amazon.

The day before our Book Tasting, I pulled books in six different genres from my classroom library and our school library and put them into book baskets.  I personally used the genres biography, nonfiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, fairy tale, and graphic novel, but you could use any book genres that you want for this activity.

On the day of our Book Tasting, we discussed genres.  We talked about how there are different genres of movies, tv shows, and books.  We reviewed some of the genres that we would be “tasting.”  Then, I passed out the Book Tasting trifold.  They filled out their reading information.  Then, we were set for our tasting.

I told my students that they were required to visit three different genres of books.  They could not pick more than one book from one genre.  I knew that if I did not make this rule, many of my students would have stayed at graphic novels the entire time.  As they browsed, they were to choose a book from the tub of their choice, look at the cover, and flip through a couple of pages.  Then, they had to decide if this would be a book that they think they would enjoy reading.

Holy engagement!  I could have watched them do this for hours.  They were so into this activity.  I absolutely loved hearing their conversations and reading their thoughts and feelings about the books.  It was truly amazing!  When they finished, they filled out the back of their form to rate and review the book tasting.

For the rest of the day, we completed more “restaurant themed” activities.  They acted as waiters and waitresses and took each other’s orders off of menus, which they loved.  We also completed many other writing, reading, and math activities.

This will DEFINITELY be an activity that I will do every single year from now on.  The students loved it and it really increased their enthusiasm for books and reading, which is a win-win situation.

If you would like check out the printables that I used for our Book Tasting, click on the picture below.

If you use these and host your own Book Tasting, I would absolutely LOVE to see pictures of your day.  You can email them to me or share them with my by tagging me on Facebook or Instagram @funinfirstblog.

Feel free to pin the picture below to save this idea to use anytime in your classroom.