Bring Characters to Life with Voki Book Hooks!

Are you looking for an EASY, ENGAGING, FUN way to use technology AND help your students improve their reading comprehension?

Make Voki Books Hooks and your students will bring their characters to life!

In this series of lessons, your students will LOVE creating a Voki, a talking avatar, which tells listeners about exciting or interesting parts of a book without giving away the ending.

Creating a Voki is simple, fun and engaging and it guaranteed to hook even your most reluctant readers.

Check out these sample book hooks created by 4th grade students!

Santa Paws URL http://tinyurl.com/y6uyhagb

The Witches URL http://tinyurl.com/ycbgc4aq

Shredderman URL http://tinyurl.com/y8ta9n39

Through the creation of Voki Book Hooks, your students will:

• analyze book jacket blurbs and movie trailers
• create a list of tips for “How to Persuade Others to Read a Book”
• write a script for a book hook that builds suspense and persuades others to read a book
• use evidence from the text to bring a book character to life
• read with fluency and expression
• use details from the text to create character voice
• use technology to make a talking character book hooks

This product includes:

• Three detailed lesson plans
• Student printables
• A Scoring Rubric
• Information about how to get started on Voki.com

 Bringing Characters to Life: Voki Book Hooks at our TPT store

What is Voki?

A Voki is an easy, fun, educational tool that allows users to create their very own talking character.

Voki characters can be customized to look like historical figures, cartoons, animals, and realistic characters! You can give your Voki a voice by recording with a microphone, using a dial-in number, or uploading an audio file. Voki characters can be emailed, shared on social media, and embedded on websites!

How much does it cost?

There are several membership options for new users of Voki.com. You can sign up for free, with limited characters and user settings. Voki also offers classroom packages, starting at 4.99 a month for a class of 30 students. It is well worth the price to purchase a classroom license, but if you want to give it try first, go with the free Basic membership. 

Students Pursuing Their Passions

The message in this book, follow your passions no matter what other people may say, provides a great starting place for a discussion about student's passions.

Rocks in His Head is the true story about author Carol Otis Hurst's father. With great affection and an appealing nostalgia, Hurst recounts the story of her father, an avid rock collector from the time he was a boy.

When people commented that "he had rocks in his pockets and rocks in his head," he would answer with an agreeable "Maybe I have," then reach into his pocket and eagerly add, "Take a look at this one."

As a young man, he opens a filling station, where he displays his labeled rocks and minerals and learns how to repair the then-new Model T. After the Depression shuts down his business, he moves his cherished collection into the attic of his home, finding odd jobs wherever he can.

The story's conclusion will prove as satisfying to readers as it was to Hurst's father: the director of the local museum offers him a dream job the position of curator of mineralogy. You can show a video of the story read aloud here. 

Follow-up this story with the question, "What is in your head?" Have students make a  mind-map of their head, placing a picture of themselves in the center and mapping things that they think and wonder aobut. Use an online mapping tool like Coggle or an app like Popplet. Follow up  with Genius Hour or Passion Projects. In our Teachers Pay Teachers store, we offer Exploration Projects:  Genius Hour Made Easy, a way for you to get started on genius hour in a more structured wasy.