With the shift to fifty percent nonfiction reading in the primary grades, students will be reading and responding to more nonfiction texts. Pop over toppers can make for an interesting presentation as well as motivate students to write. The two samples in this post are part of an ocean theme. Once students have read about an ocean creature, they can respond to a series of sentence frames or write several expository paragraphs about their creature. Once the writing has completed the process, students can create a topper. The shark topper is 3-D because of the tabs. Attaching the pieces to the paper and folding up on the tabs gives the shark movement. The students can add ocean elements and a shark label in the space in the middle of the topper to enhance the presentation.

The second topper is the octopus. This topper can attach to the page or pop over the space as pictured. Students can use stamp pads and fingerprints to make the details on the tentacles. The patterns for both creatures can be made on old file folders so the students can trace them on colored construction paper, add details with labels, cut out and attach to their writing. Students can share their writing and display their reports. A variety of creature toppers and reports makes an attractive and interesting presentation.