Reading: Real Life Reading

Cereal Box Story

 

            Today's Snack: What else? Cereal, from a box! You'll need the box for today's activity. And don't forget the milk to make the cereal go down goooooooood.

 

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Supplies:

Cereal box | pencil | scratch paper

 

 

            A big bowl of cereal strengthens your bones and body. And the box that holds that cereal can strengthen your reading ability!

 

            It's a time-honored tradition of childhood that you pour yourself a bowl of cereal, and pass the time reading the back of the cereal box while you eat it.

 

            That's what we're going to do, with just a little more purpose to it. Yes, it's more fun if there are one or two other people involved, but you can do this on your own, too.

 

            Simply look at the back of the box of cereal and write down 10 words that you see on it. You can do this with a partner or as part of a team, too.

 

            Then tell a story and use each of those 10 words in the story. You don't have to use them in the order you wrote them down. You can cross them off as you go. You can use a different form or tense of a word if you'd like. (For example, if the cereal box has the word "run," you can change it to "ran" in your story if that works better.) If you're with a partner, take turns adding sentences to the story.

 

            For example, the back of the cereal box in the picture, above, is about U.S. athletes who competed in the Olympic Games. So the words have a lot to do with athletics. Your story is likely to be about athletics, too, since so many of the words on the back of the cereal box have to do with sports. But maybe not:

 

            athlete

            cards

            keep

            summer

            great

            jump

            world

            decorated

            beach

            table

           

            What story would you make up, using those words? You can be as silly or as serious as you'd like.

 

Maybe there's a beach that is decorated for summer fun, with palm trees and crepe paper streamers and balloons. In the center of the beach there's a table with really special playing cards on it. All of a sudden, a great athlete jumps over the table and knocks the cards off. They blow all over the world. Everybody who finds one can either turn it in for a prize, or keep it.

 

            Now try it yourself, with your own cereal box, collecting your own set of 10 words. You can do this with as many food packages as you'd like, maybe at every meal.

 

            Improve your reading skills, bite by bite, and soon your reading ability will have a lot of crunch!