Reviewing Genres with 4th Grade

One of my favorite lessons when I was the 4th grade ELA teacher was introducing all the different genres. I used to do a book challenge with my students to read at least one book of every genre. If you've never read a mystery, you don't know if you like mysteries!! Try it, you may like it!

The 4th grade teacher asked me to help her introduce genres to her classes. We collaborated on this last year as well. This year, we decided to make it 2 lessons, instead of only one. The first week we went over the genres and their definitions. I created a slide show using Beth Newingham's posters, which are available for any education use.


After the slide show, students were broken up into groups and placed at a table with a stack of books. They had a set time to decide together which genre the books belonged to. Then, students rotated around to each table to browse through each genre. They wrote down at least one title from each genre on their recording sheet of a book they might like to read.

You can also read about last year's genre lesson.

The second week, we integrated some technology by playing a Kahoot game. Feel free to use this kahoot with your students. They had so much fun, and it gave the teacher the opportunity to go over misunderstandings of the different genres.

Look at these smiles!!! Having fun learning! 

Here the teacher is going over details about the types of genre that students are mixing up. 

On another fun note, it was Christmas in September!! Our new books arrived last week, and we are getting them ready for the shelves. We love getting new books!