How to Put Requirements on the Reading Fair Board

Turning students into bookworms helps them become stronger readers, which benefits them in all areas. A reading fair is a creative way to get kids excited about books. Reading fairs use presentation boards to share information about the book, with certain presentation requirements, such as specifics about the book or your opinion of the story. A successful reading fair board keeps the information simple, easy to read and visually attractive.

Read through the fair requirements before you start working so you know exactly what to put on your board. This usually includes the book title, author, publisher, publishing date, characters, setting, plot details, author's purpose and the tone of the story, as well as your personal information. Find out if the requirements specify where to put certain information. For example, your name may need to go on the back of the board. The title of the book might need to go right at the top in the middle. Check other criteria for the judging, including creativity, neatness, legibility and overall quality.

Make sure your presentation board is visually appealing, yet informative. Visitors and judges should be able to pick out key pieces of information right away. Use concise text when describing the book with pictures to complement the information. Add a picture of each main character with labels to describe his or her personality, for example. Draw a map that shows the key places in the story to explain the setting. Create a large background image to help portray the story. For "Jack and the Beanstalk," make a large beanstalk out of twisted green paper that goes up your display board, for example.

Type the written parts of your reading fair board so the text is easy for the judges to see. Choose a font that is easy to read and make the font large enough so it can be read from a distance. Check the font size by printing a test page and taping it to the wall. Try reading it from a few feet away. Your descriptive text that gives details about the story will generally be a smaller font so you can fit all of the information on the page. Mount each block of text to colored paper to create a border.

Make the board look visually appealing by keeping it organized and simple. Too much clutter makes it difficult to pick out the required elements. Leave blank spaces between the pictures and blocks of text so they are easy to see. Put the most important information, such as the title and author, at the top; most people scan from top to bottom. Test your layout before you attach anything to the board to see if you like the arrangement. Attach the pieces to the board once you're sure you like the layout.