ARCHIVED - Read Up On It

About This Issue

• Acknowledgements
• Illustrators
• Ideas for Activities
• Selection Criteria

To further enrich the reading experience for young people, here are some suggestions for activities. These ideas can be adapted by parents, educators and librarians.

Ideas for Activities

1. Have the children make a list of words in Inuktitut which are used everyday or which are used by companies: anorak, igloo, etc.
2. Hand out file cards for the children to write descriptions of polar animals. Have them describe the animals' appearance, habitat, food, etc.
3. Have the children create a model inspired by a book they have read, such as an ice floe, an igloo, a bear's lair, etc.
4. Organize a marathon reading session: the title of each book read by (or to) a child is inscribed on a "block of ice" that will be used to build an igloo that grows with each block.
5. Word Race: Set a timer for 90 seconds and have the children write as many words as possible starting with the letter "c" for cold or "n" for north.
6. Scramble: make a list of words related to winter, cold weather and climate change. Scramble the letters for the children to solve.
7. Find books with poems about winter, the cold, climate change, the Arctic, for the children to read and then encourage them to write their own poems.
8. Ask the children to create an advertisement for a book that they have read.
9. Write an article or book report on an autobiography or biography of a famous explorer of the Arctic or Antarctic.
10. Make a list of the greatest explorers of the two poles.
11. Make a list of place names or ships named after famous explorers (e.g., Hudson's Bay, the Amundsen icebreaker).
12. Create a crossword based on the themes of: winter, cold, arctic, or climate changes.
13. Hangman: use words related to the theme of winter, cold and climate change like north, ice, polar bear, ice floe, etc.
14. Pass the talisman: Participants form a circle and pass around a talisman (an object representing the cold or the Arctic) while music plays. When the music stops, the player holding the talisman is eliminated, the game ends when only one player is left.
15. Memory game: place objects related to the theme of north, cold, climate changes on a tray. The players observe for two minutes. Cover the objects. The players must write down as many objects they can remember. The player with the most correct answers wins. This game can also be played in teams.
16. Consequences: each player writes a short paragraph and then folds the paper to conceal all except for the last sentence. The next player continues the story.
17. Promote your favourite book by designing a bookmark or postcard.
18. Write a fictitious interview with a character from a book.
19. Suggest alternate titles for books you have read.
20. Create a rebus. a word puzzle that consists of pictures and letters that represent words using book titles.
21. Read a story aloud; invent what happens next and then a new ending.
22. Title match: match the titles to the book.
23. Mixed-up summaries: match the summary to the illustration on the title page.