Mr. Maykut: Book Talks

Over the next month, students will be taking turns giving a book talk.  During a book talk, each student will talk about a nonfiction book that they have read at home.  The presentation should be approximately 5 minutes long.  The book talk allows each student to become an expert on a specific topic.  Posters, visual aides, artifacts and pictures are permitted.  

Students have already been learning how to collect information from nonfiction books at school. Here are a few guidelines students can use to help them prepare for their book talk: 

1.  Read the book!

2.  Think of at least three main ideas from the book and write down details from the book for each of the main ideas. For example if the book is about an animal: habitat, food, appearance. If the book is about a person: family, problems, accomplishments,  If it's about a place: people, attractions, weather.

3.  There is no need to write a report but students should practice repeatedly at home by referring to the ideas they wrote down and organized. Don't forget to introduce the book and the author and end with a conclusion! Students should remember from first grade how to write introductions and conclusions for a book review. 

Introduction: Ask your audience questions.  Tell what the book is about and who wrote it.  Give your opinion about the book.

Conclusion: Restate your opinion about this book.  Tell what others thought about the book. Compare it to other books.  Give it a rating.

4.   Make a poster. Students should do this on their own as this process will help them remember what they are going to say.

5.  Practice speaking in a loud voice and making eye contact with the audience. 

Below are examples of what your child can do to prepare:  

Pick a book and read it more than once!

Think of at least 3 main ideas from the book and write details for each main idea.

Make a poster. Write the main ideas and list details to help you remember your speech.

Here is an example of a speech. Students don't need to write out their speech.  Students are discouraged from reading from a script.  Instead they should practice frequently at home so that remember what they've read.  

Did you know that there are over 1,200 types of bats?  Did you know that bats are the only mammals that can fly? If you think bats are cool, you should read the book FLY GUY PRESENTS BATS by Tedd Arnold.  It’s a great book because you learn a lot about different kinds of bats.  You also learn about where bats live, what they eat and what bats can do!

After reading this book I learned that most bats are small and light. Most bats weigh as much as an orange. The smallest bat is called a bumblebee bat and it is only one inch long! The biggest bat is called the flying fox and it has a wingspan of 5 feet wide which is this long!  All bats have two legs, two wings and a tail.  Bats have sharp teeth and brown fur. They have two eyes for seeing really well.  They have a nose for smelling really well.  They have two ears for hearing really well too!

How many of you know where bats live?  Bats live everywhere except for Antarctica because it’s too cold there and there is no food for bats to eat.  Bats live in lots of different places that can be warm or cold.  Bats like to live in caves because caves are dark and safe.  Bats also live in trees, under bridges and in attics.  Bats don’t live by themselves. Instead they live in large groups called colonies.  It’s a fact that all bats sleep hanging upside down like this! If it gets too cold during winter bats will hibernate.  Hibernation is when bats sleep throughout the winter.

Would you like to know what bats eat?  Different bats eat different things.  Most bats eat insects like flies, caterpillars or mosquitos.  Vampire bats eat blood but don’t worry because they don’t drink human blood.  They drink cow blood.  The fruit bat eats fruits like bananas and it drinks nectar from flowers too.  Some bats eat small birds, frogs and fish! That’s crazy!

Bats are amazing because they can fly! They fly like this:  First they drop to the ground.  Then they start flapping their wings. Finally they’re flying!  Did you know that bats cannot run because their legs are too short?  Bats can use their wings to climb and fight other bats.  Bats can use echolocation.  They make a high pitched sound in the dark that bounces off objects so they can tell how close or faraway that object is.

Now that you know a little bit about bats, you should read Fly Guy Presents Bats.  It’s a great book with lots of facts and interesting pictures about bats.  It’s great to read and learn about bats, the most amazing mammal in the world! Dr. Purcell, the librarian at Graded School says this is the best book about bats because there are pictures of over 20 different kinds of bats. This book is better than other bat books because Fly Guy is funny!  For example, Fly Guy was scared when he learned that bats eat insects!  I give this book 10 stars out of 10 because it's easy to read! What are you waiting for!  Go to the library and sign out this book!