5 Reasons Joke Books Belong in a Classroom

There weren’t a lot of joke books available to me when I was kid. However, I’ll never forget a small roll of jokes I got from a cereal box when I was nine. After brushing off all the Crunch Berries, I unrolled the long piece of paper to find about a dozen jokes written just for kids. I practiced the jokes over and over until I could deliver them perfectly for any guest my parents would allow me to entertain.

The one joke I still remember to this day is:

Q: Why do witches ride brooms?

A: Because vacuum cleaners are too heavy.

Their friend, known to me as Father Meyers, laughed hysterically and then returned the favor by teaching me a song about oranges that go squirty, squirty, squirty over everybody’s shirty.

Good times.

WHY JOKES ARE OUR JAM

If your classroom library doesn’t include a few joke books for kids, it’s time to get some. We’re hooked on joke books right now and for good reason.

1. JOKES ARE SHORT & SWEET

Reluctant readers and emerging readers sometimes lack the experience, skill, or confidence to tackle long texts. If they’re struggling to recognize and decode words, a book with hundreds of words can be very frustrating. In contrast, joke books are bite-size bits of reading. One-liners, knock-knock jokes, and even riddles are short enough to entice and motivate most children to read and reread. (Key word, reread.)

2. JOKES IMPROVE FLUENCY

Because the delivery of a good joke relies on expression, intonation, and a sense of timing, jokes have a positive impact on fluency. Kids quickly learn that a choppy joke doesn’t get quite the same reaction as one delivered smoothly.

3. JOKES ARE WORD-WORTHY

Most jokes are funny because of some element of word play. Similar sounding words, figurative language, or multiple meaning words are often part of the punchline. These nuances in the language help children develop a richer, more sophisticated vocabulary. Understanding why a joke is funny depends on knowing how the play on words works, which in turn deepens comprehension.

4. JOKES ARE MEANT TO BE SHARED

Though the other reasons are smart (and based on standards), this is one of my favorite reasons to have joke books in the classroom… they’re meant to be enjoyed with others. For your introverts, this might look like a side-by-side moment where partners take turns telling jokes to each other. Extroverts, on the other hand, see the world as their stage. An open mic event is a fun way to showcase all that reading work. Who knows? You may have a budding comedian in your classroom!

5. JOKES ARE FUN

It’s just that simple.

JOKE BOOKS FOR KIDS

The children’s section in most bookstores will include a selection of joke books for kids, some more than others. It’s a good idea to spend some time looking through them before you buy any. For me, I look for two things when I’m deciding which joke book to get:

Is the level of text difficulty in this book manageable for my readers?
Are the jokes appropriate for my age group?

Number two obviously comes with some subjectivity, but you know your kids best. On Brightly’s website, Tom Burns recommends these 7 TRULY FUNNY JOKE BOOKS FOR KIDS and Melissa Taylor, from Imagination Soup, shares her list of the BEST JOKE BOOKS FOR KIDS on her site.

Also, just in case anyone asks why your kids are reading joke books, this article from Scholastic explains WHY FUNNY BOOKS ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF A CHILD’S LIBRARY.

PRINTABLE JOKE BOOKS FOR THE LITTLES

When you teach young children or readers who need a little extra support, it’s sometimes a challenge to find texts they can handle without becoming overwhelmed. Because of this, I started writing books for my first graders years ago. I figured if I couldn’t find them in the library, I would just make my own.

What do we love about these?

Every child gets their own. It’s theirs. They can keep it. And they love that.
Each book is manageable… short jokes, recognizable sight words, and only eight pages.
We can write and highlight words ON the pages… built-in word work.
The children are the illustrators. Making decisions about how to illustrate each joke helps kids understand new vocabulary which deepens comprehension.
The punchlines are upside down. (I actually underestimated how much they would love this feature.)
The last page invites the children to write a joke of their own.

Once kids get hooked on jokes, they want more, so I started a collection of joke books that are just right for kids in first and second grades. Introducing one new title a month seems like a good schedule for the kids. That gives them plenty of time to process the text and enjoy their new jokes while allowing the mandated reading curriculum to remain the primary focus.

So far, we have joke books about:

APPLES
PUMPKINS
TURKEYS
CHRISTMAS
VALENTINE’S DAY
SNOW & SNOWMEN
OCEAN ANIMALS
SPACE (Yep, there’s room for humor in science too.)

…and more are on the way, like this one, ST. PATRICK’S DAY JOKES!

Want to read more? Check out the blog posts below. The first two have some teacher-freebies you can download and try out tomorrow!