Do you belong to a book club? I never understood the true value of a lively book discussion until I joined a book club as an adult. I am an avid reader! So, when I was invited to join a book club, I jumped in with both feet! I gained so much knowledge by debating and discussing the merits of a book and wanted to share this experience with my students.
There are a couple of key points I try to remember when I organize literature circles.
*Mix up your students, personalities and interests will make for livelier discussions. Talk to your students about how to object or give a dissenting opinion in a respectful manner.
*Although everyone has genres that we naturally gravitate towards, it's important for readers to stretch themselves! One of the book clubs I belonged to, read a book from a different genre each month. I don't necessarily enjoy every genre, but because of this experience, I discovered a couple of new ones to love. Sometimes it's a matter of reading the right book! Focus on two genres when you organize literature circles. Organized this way, you can let students meet with groups of the same book and groups of the same genre. For a whole group lesson, compare and contrast the two genres with a venn diagram.
The great thing about Literature Circles is that it can be used with such a wide range of age levels. When I taught first grade, two of my reading groups were reading G.E. 2.5 or higher. I still met with these groups for skill work, plus I gave them time to meet as a Literature Circle for enrichment. This also a wonderful way to differentiate if you teach older students. I've been helping my daughter's 6th grade teacher, Miss Sandy, set up Literature Circles for her classroom. (the pictures are from her classroom) When you have 30 students for half a day, time is a valuable commodity. Differentiating with young students is hard, but half a day with 30 students is a greater challenge. It took the two or us working together three days to put 60 kids in 22 groups! Yes, you heard me right . . . 22 groups. Putting a 2nd grade class in literature circles and a 6th grade class in literature circles has similarities, but also some differences. By, 6th grade you see a greater difference with fluency rates. Miss Sandy's wanted her students to finish their book in 6 weeks. Fluency rate and ability level were the first two things we considered when putting them in groups. Then we looked at personalities. Some students work well in large group, others do better in small groups. Our largest group is 4 and our smallest is 2. I will never complain about meeting with my (elementary) 4 or 5 reading groups again.
Here's the tubs, ready to begin our first rotation on Monday. Each folder has a blue note attached with the students' names and title of book they will read. Behind the folder is their books.
There are many wonderful literature circle printables on the internet. There were a couple of specific things I was looking for, so I tweaked the forms and made my own. My jobs are:
C.E.O.: This is the boss of the group. The C.E.O. is in charge of getting the folder, handing out assignments, and leading the discussion. The C.E.O. also has an assignment to do. The C.E.O. will complete a connection assignment. It can be connection to self, world, or text. He or she will draw a picture with at least 5 different colors and write at least 3 sentences.
The Dictionary Director will find 3 words from the reading assignment. The words will be whatever our current grammar/writing focus is during our lessons. I.E. If we are studying adjectives, the D.D. will find 3 interesting adjectives from the reading assignments. The D.D. can look up the words in a dictionary or can use the computers or iPads.
The Map maker has a choice of 3 assignments. He or she may complete a character map, venn diagram, or story element chart.
The Newscaster is looking for the main ideas in the reading assignment. He or she will take notes of important characters and events and give a "newscast" when the group meets.
The quiz whiz is in charge of testing the group's knowledge. No basic knowledge questions are allowed! Questions should either be predictions, explain: how/why's, connections/comparisons, or opinion questions.
Here's a sheet telling about the responsibilities of each job.
I made my own packet and added it to my TPT store. Go check it out!
*Although everyone has genres that we naturally gravitate towards, it's important for readers to stretch themselves! One of the book clubs I belonged to, read a book from a different genre each month. I don't necessarily enjoy every genre, but because of this experience, I discovered a couple of new ones to love. Sometimes it's a matter of reading the right book! Focus on two genres when you organize literature circles. Organized this way, you can let students meet with groups of the same book and groups of the same genre. For a whole group lesson, compare and contrast the two genres with a venn diagram.
The great thing about Literature Circles is that it can be used with such a wide range of age levels. When I taught first grade, two of my reading groups were reading G.E. 2.5 or higher. I still met with these groups for skill work, plus I gave them time to meet as a Literature Circle for enrichment. This also a wonderful way to differentiate if you teach older students. I've been helping my daughter's 6th grade teacher, Miss Sandy, set up Literature Circles for her classroom. (the pictures are from her classroom) When you have 30 students for half a day, time is a valuable commodity. Differentiating with young students is hard, but half a day with 30 students is a greater challenge. It took the two or us working together three days to put 60 kids in 22 groups! Yes, you heard me right . . . 22 groups. Putting a 2nd grade class in literature circles and a 6th grade class in literature circles has similarities, but also some differences. By, 6th grade you see a greater difference with fluency rates. Miss Sandy's wanted her students to finish their book in 6 weeks. Fluency rate and ability level were the first two things we considered when putting them in groups. Then we looked at personalities. Some students work well in large group, others do better in small groups. Our largest group is 4 and our smallest is 2. I will never complain about meeting with my (elementary) 4 or 5 reading groups again.
Here's the tubs, ready to begin our first rotation on Monday. Each folder has a blue note attached with the students' names and title of book they will read. Behind the folder is their books.
Inside the folders is a pink (card stock) page. This is a list of common characteristics. When students are the "map maker", they will use it as a resource when filling out the character map assignment. The green (card stock) page is a great resource I found @ Laura Candler's website (http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/literacy/PDFLC/questio.pdf) I attached page protectors to the prongs to hold the necessary assignments. In the past, I had a tub of files folders that held the assignments. But, I hated the long lines. Although this took more time to put together, I believe in the "pay it forward" philosophy. The student who is the C.E.O. of the group will be in charge of getting their group's folder from the tub. Since each folder has assignments for 5 jobs and only one student will get it, that means 4 students or 80% less students standing in line.
Here's the bulletin board where the students find out their job assignment. The orange and yellow wheels are the job wheels. The green notes are the charts showing the groups.
To save time and space, you can put two groups on one wheel. I typed up even numbered groups in red and odd numbered groups in blue. I can use the same wheel each year. Just put a new label over the top!
C.E.O.: This is the boss of the group. The C.E.O. is in charge of getting the folder, handing out assignments, and leading the discussion. The C.E.O. also has an assignment to do. The C.E.O. will complete a connection assignment. It can be connection to self, world, or text. He or she will draw a picture with at least 5 different colors and write at least 3 sentences.
The Dictionary Director will find 3 words from the reading assignment. The words will be whatever our current grammar/writing focus is during our lessons. I.E. If we are studying adjectives, the D.D. will find 3 interesting adjectives from the reading assignments. The D.D. can look up the words in a dictionary or can use the computers or iPads.
The Map maker has a choice of 3 assignments. He or she may complete a character map, venn diagram, or story element chart.
The Newscaster is looking for the main ideas in the reading assignment. He or she will take notes of important characters and events and give a "newscast" when the group meets.
The quiz whiz is in charge of testing the group's knowledge. No basic knowledge questions are allowed! Questions should either be predictions, explain: how/why's, connections/comparisons, or opinion questions.
Here's a sheet telling about the responsibilities of each job.
I made my own packet and added it to my TPT store. Go check it out!
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