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First Chapter Friday in the Middle School ELA Classroom - Build a Reading Culture with High-Interest Books

If you're an English Language Arts teacher, there's a good chance that you love books. While you may feel enthusiastic about rummaging through a library and cracking open a new novel, do you ever struggle to help your students feel that same enthusiasm about literature?  First Chapter Friday is one of my favorite ways to hype up books and get students to consider checking them out from the school library. Different teachers have unique strategies for First Chapter Friday, and I encourage you to check out other blogs for a variety of ideas. In today's post, I'm going to share what has worked best in my classroom.  1. Pick out a high-interest book that students could read on their own  The goal of First Chapter Friday is not to convince a 7th grade class to read a complicated book like The Brothers Karamazov . The goal is to find reading level appropriate books that are extremely engaging, right off the bat. If you're feeling unsure of what your students might like...

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