Ideas to Launch Rockerbox News with Your Class
Teacher-designed activities to introduce Rockerbox News to your class in an interactive and easy-to-implement way.
Idea 1: Contact the Newsroom
Great for:
- Introducing Rockerbox News as a place where pupils can read for pleasure
- Empowering pupils with ownership of what's published on Rockerbox News
- Discussing the genre of non-fiction and the timely topics that are popular in your class right now!
Step 1: Assign the article 'Contact the Newsroom' to your pupils. The platform will automatically personalise the level for each pupil.
Step 2: Pupils read the article and answer the comprehension questions online (these will report back to you, as normal, with strengths and areas of need for a pupil's reading comprehension).
Step 3: Pupils practise searching for articles and identify topics and themes they're excited to read in the future. They also make a list of topics they'd like to see. This can be done individually, in groups, or as a class.
Step 4: Pupils can discuss their choices. They might create a graph to show popular topics and themes or vote on the final list to send. This is a great opportunity to talk about non-fiction as a genre and the types of things you'll be reading about on Rockerbox News moving forward.
Step 5: Send us the list and your pupils will hear back directly from our content team about their requests and when to expect new articles that they've requested to be live. on the Rockerbox News platforms.
Idea 2: Reciprocal Reading Games
Great for:
- Boosting reading confidence as your pupils feel equal to their peers and use different reading strategies to explore Rockerbox News
- Classes that will start their Rockerbox News journey with assigned articles and activities over reading for pleasure
Reciprocal reading involves pupils in a small group taking on different roles of a teacher in order to discuss and understand a text together. Reciprocal reading is a great way to teach pupils important reading skills and it works particularly well with non-fiction texts.
The ultimate objective of a reciprocal reading programme is for pupils to start using all four strategies naturally in their independent reading.
Download a Reciprocal Reading with Rockerbox News pack here.
Idea 3: Host a Launch Assembly
Great for:
- Involving the whole school
- Younger pupils learning from the years above them
Hosting a Rockerbox News launch assembly is a great way to start your launch week with a bang. The more children and pupils involved, the more engaging the launch week will be. Here's what it might include:
- Give a live demonstration (or ask older pupils already using the platform to take the lead)
- Set up a Rockerbox News launch week challenge and see which class can read the most Rockerbox News articles in a single week
On your marks, get set, go!
Idea 4: Launch a Game of 'Do You Know?'
Great for:
- Quickly boosting engagement in reading
- Competitive classes and year groups
Step 1: One pupil, group, or teacher introduces something they've learned on Rockerbox News each morning of your launch week. They then ask a question to the rest of the group. The answer to the question should be something that can be found on Rockerbox News.
Step 2: Each team's mission is to find the answer on Rockerbox News that day during their Reading for Pleasure time!
Step 3: Create a scoreboard and keep track of who is in the lead.
Step 4: The top score at the end of the week wins!
Have you had great success introducing Rockerbox News to your class in a way we haven't yet listed above? We'd love to hear what you've been up to and share your tips and ideas with other Rockerbox News subscribing schools.