Ideas for Middle School First Chapter Fridays

Watching students come to life when they find a book they love has to be the best part about teaching. But, for some students, it’s easier said than done. I tried a lot of things over the years to get students interested in reading, and one strategy was always victorious – First Chapter Fridays. This small but powerful tool got students excited for novel units and opened them up to new books.

What is First Chapter Friday?

Think of First Chapter Friday as a sneak peek. The premise is simple: choose a book and read the first chapter aloud to your students. That’s the whole strategy! First chapters are designed to hook readers, so it would make sense that we can get students interested by sharing it with them.

Some books have long first chapters, so you may not have time to read the entire chapter. I recommend choosing the amount of time you’d like to dedicate, setting a timer, and just reading as much of the first chapter as you can. No big deal if you don’t get through it. You’ll still accomplish the goal of engaging your students and getting them interested in the text.

Ways to Use First Chapter Friday

As I mentioned, First Chapter Friday is super easy to implement. There are no copies to make or lessons to write, and you can get as in-depth as you want (or keep it simple). Here are a few ways I have used First Chapter Friday:

#1 Warm-Ups or Bell Work

Kick off your class period with the first chapter read aloud. If you have a class set of a book, students can read along with you. If not, you can simply read aloud. (Sometimes I let students doodle or put their heads down while listening.)

After reading the first chapter out loud, take it a step further by asking students to make a prediction or write a summary of what they’ve read. You can apply a skill you talked about that week or review a skill that you haven’t mentioned in a while.

#2 Use it before starting a new novel

If you’ve ever had a particularly amazing appetizer at a restaurant, then you know the power of a little sampling before the big meal. First chapter Friday can have the same effect.

Before jumping into a new novel unit, read the first chapter out loud to students. This gives them a sneak peek into the book, gets them excited, and hopefully leaves them asking for more. Again, you can pair this with content questions. Ask students to make predictions on what the book is about or what they think will happen next.

#3 Use it to introduce new books

During my time in the classroom, I found that students would cycle through the class favorites, and rarely would an unknown book be selected. While I was happy they were reading, I wanted a way to introduce them to other novels.

First Chapter Friday is a great way to build interest in unfamiliar library titles. I almost always had a list of students on a book waitlist after a first chapter Friday read aloud.

You can also extend this further. After a student reads a book, ask them to give the class a book talk or book review after. The goal of the book talk is to explain why this book is a must-read.  The book talk does not give spoilers or too many details, but it continues the work you started. This can stir up even more anticipation.

#4 Explore different genres

First chapter Friday makes it easy to explore new genres with your students. You can choose a book to go with your current genre unit or use each Friday as an opportunity to introduce a new genre. A student who loves sci-fi might hesitate to read historical fiction…that is until they have heard the first chapter!

You can also use this opportunity to discuss different genre elements. Practice world-building after reading a fantasy chapter, discuss the impact of dialogue in a fictional text, or analyze the characters in an adventure story. First Chapter Friday can make these discussions meaningful and make spiraling seamless.

Books to Use for First Chapter Friday

It’s important to choose relevant texts because the goal is to get students excited about reading, and irrelevant, boring books just aren’t going to get the job done. Switch things up and use a variety of books to pique the interest of as many students as possible.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some books my students always enjoyed:

Sixth Grade

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Phillbrick – This realistic fiction book is a tale of an unlikely friendship that follows the journey of two middle school boys who are treated as outcasts.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson – Fever 1793 is a historical fiction text about a 14-year-old girl fighting to survive the yellow fever epidemic. 

Seventh Grade

Maze Runner by James Dashner – This dystopian, Sci-fi book tells the story of a boy named Thomas who wakes up to find himself amongst a group of boys working to navigate a labyrinth after mysteriously losing their memories.

Booked by Kwame Alexander – This realistic fiction book is written in verse and tells the story of a soccer-playing student navigating bullies, family drama, and school crushes. 

Eighth Grade

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Another dystopian favorite, Hunger Games tells the story of a society being punished for a failed revolt.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander – This book is realistic fiction written in verse and follows the story of a middle schooler named Josh who is passionate about basketball as he navigates brotherhood, jealousy, and love. 

Want more First Chapter Friday ideas? I have planned all your First Chapter Fridays for the entire school year. This First Chapter Friday Book Recommendation resource includes 40 different titles for each grade level.

This resource has everything you need to start! There are reading logs, student reflection pages, and other trackers. The book recommendations include the genre, so you can easily pick a new genre each week without having to hunt for a good book. There is even a form included where students can rate each book.

If you want to read more about First Chapter Friday, check out this blog post!