My students keep a reading log throughout the year on which they record all the books they have read. They are asked to record the genre of each of the books as well, so this is an important concept for them to master early in the year.

After every read aloud, I will always ask my students to "name that genre" -- even when they don't have signs used during the "Name That Genre" game to hold up -- so that I am continuing to reinforce the concept. This does not take the place up more in-depth genre studies throughout the year, but it allows my students to at least be able to categorize books by genre.