I try to do a Harry Potter read aloud to my class of fifth grade students every year. It is a treat to share with your intermediate aged reading classes and teachers need to do a Harry Potter Read Aloud in school!
Many fifth-grade students have not read the Harry Potter series. They may have enjoyed the theme parks and watched the movies, but many students have not engaged in the books. As a reading teacher, this is an injustice that needs to be corrected as soon as possible!
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Harry Potter Read Aloud . . . Because Students Usually Skip Reading on Their Own
Simply put, it takes Harry too damn long to get to Hogwarts in the first book.
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J.K. Rowling is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the beginning of the books, she is building up an entire magical world, while also giving us the lore of Harry Potter. She is creating a framework for the series, necessary work that pays off in the end.
Unfortunately for many students, there are too many pages until we meet Ron, Hermione and the rest of the gang. Harry doesn’t get to Hogwarts until about the 80th page. He doesn’t become friends with Hermione until much further into the book.
When you consider many students devour Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Who Was? and I Survived books, it makes sense that students don’t have the patience to wait 80 pages to get to the good stuff in the book.
Weirdly enough, when you ask ten year olds what their favorite Harry Potter book is, unless they are avid readers who have read the entire series, you will probably hear that they LOVE Chamber of Secrets.
Many Students Love Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets the Most
This has always taken me by surprise because Chamber is often considered the least best of the entire series. I am not saying it is a bad book by any means, just that all of the others have so much more going for it that many people put Chamber at the bottom of their HP best of lists.
Why then is Chamber of Secrets regarded so highly by these ten and eleven year olds?
I haven’t done any research studies, but my guess is that Chamber jumps right into the story. The world has already been built. No time is wasted on Harry learning he is a wizard, Dursley’s avoidance of Harry’s letters and no visit to Diagon Alley.
Yes, Harry still doesn’t get to Hogwarts for quite a few pages, but as a reader we are reading his thoughts of Hermione and Ron. Ron also breaks Harry out of the Dursley’s house after having stolen his dad’s car. Who doesn’t love the shenanigans that these crazy kids get up to?!?
Less brain power is being used by the reader to make meaning of the story and characters. Just like a student can pick up their 100th edition of Who Was Dr. Seuss? and jump right into the formulaic book.
Chamber of Secrets is familiar, comforting and enjoyable without being 1,000 pages long. A win-win-win for any ten year old.
If you have a student who has shown interest in the series, but is still not engaging with the books, you might want to invest in the illustrated versions of the books. The additional format can be another inviting entry for some students.
Harry Potter Read Aloud: The Harry Potter Books and their Page Count and Audio Book Length
Sorcerer’s Stone– 309 Pages (8 Hours 18 Minutes)
Chamber of Secrets– 341 Pages (9 Hours 3 Minutes)
Prisoner of Azkaban– 435 Pages (11 Hours 48 Minutes)
Goblet of Fire– 734 Pages (20 Hours 37 Minutes)
Order of the Phoenix– 870 Pages (26 Hours 29 Minutes)
Half-Blood Prince– 642 Pages (18 Hours 32 Minutes)
Deathly Hallows– 759 Pages (21 Hours 37 Minutes)
Do I Have to Read Sorcerer’s Stone to My Class for a Harry Potter Read Aloud?
No.
Reading one of the books in the Harry Potter series is a worthwhile time investment for any reading teacher.
Based off of the length of the books, however, you probably need to limit yourself to one of the first three books- Stone, Chamber or Azkaban.
One way to figure out how long it might take you to read any book, is to see how long the audio version of book is and then divide that by the amount of read aloud time you have in your class.
So if Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is 8 hours and 18 minutes and I read to my class for about 20 minutes each day, I can figure the general total amount of days to finish by doing some simple math.
8 hours and 18 minutes = 498 minutes
498 minutes/20 minutes each day = 24.9 days or 25 school days
Sorcerer’s Stone should take me about 5 weeks of school with no days off in between.
I have read Sorcerer’s Stone a few times to my class. It was a worthwhile investment in the amount of students that then continued on to finish the rest of the series independently. The only thing is, Sorcerer’s Stone is one of my least favorite Harry Potter books and I got tired of reading the same old story!
Sometimes I read Prisoner of Azkaban to change things up from year to year. I read Prisoner of Azkaban because I am the teacher and I can do what I want! It was such a delightfully juicy read and was not difficult to bring the kids up to speed with the series. Again, do what works for you.
Does the Order of a Book Series Matter?
Rowling does a fantastic job filling the reader in on any information they may have missed if they haven’t read any of the previous books. I am not sure how well that would work out if a student picked up a book from Goblet of Fire or later, but the first three you could handle independently of the others.
Have you ever picked up a book for whatever reason that was in the middle of a series? I have and there are few parts that might be confusing, but I have been able to connect the dots enough that I was still able to enjoy the book.
Yes a series is most enjoyable if you read it in order, but if picking up a book in the middle is what engages that reader, I am supportive of the out of order reading experience. I would rather nurture lifelong readers instead of students reading in a specific reading order, only for that student to never pick up a book.
Soap box time- Teachers spend a lot of time discouraging readers because the books they are choosing aren’t good enough. Have you ever passed judgment on a reader because they are reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the 8,000th time? Ever tell a student to get something more challenging than the book of short stories? As teachers we can be too focused on the short term. I would rather have a kid leave the library with a short, easy book they will read and enjoy instead of walking out with a longer, challenging book that they are just going to carry around and never open.
My goal is to build life-long readers.
Harry Potter Read Aloud in the Classroom
My final advice for you is to read Harry Potter aloud to your class sometime in the beginning of the school year. The first or second month of school is best. This way you can introduce your students to the series and they have all year to devour the books.
I find the Harry Potter read aloud has engaged quite a few of my students into continuing on with the series. It’s also a nice way to talk about reading behaviors, world building, and the lore of an entire series.
I like to do a Harry Potter read aloud as a kickoff before introducing my Harry Potter Book Club that meets once a month for just my fifth-grade students. We ‘discuss’ one book every month and have a final wrap up before school lets out for the year.
Harry Potter Book Club
Interested in starting an extracurricular bookclub with your students. I have a Harry Potter Book Club and am happy to share with you my month by month book guide and materials. Check out the information on starting a Harry Potter Book Club here.
Harry Potter Teacher Extras
Harry Potter Teacher Clothes
I like to use my Harry Potter book club days to wear my Harry Potter fashions. It is fun to showcase a variety of shirts as well as advertise that it is a book club day.
Harry Potter Ghost Halloween T-Shirt
Hagrid’s Pumpkin Farm Sweatshirt
I solemnly swear I am up to no good T-shirt
Fun Harry Potter Games and Activities Here are some other fun Harry Potter games and activities I share with the students Check out these posts- Flashback Should Be Taught Before Foreshadowing When Teaching Reading Teaching Narrator and Point of View How to Find Good Independent Reading Books for Students Teach Students to Abandon Books They Don’t Enjoy Executive Functioning and Teaching Reading in the Classroom You Need to Do a Teacher Read Aloud Have you ever read Harry to your class? Any luck with a book club? I would love to hear your thoughts!Looking For More Resources for Teaching Reading?
What About You?
