I have only direct experience implementing with second grade. I began with one or two lit circle groups at a time, as not all 2nd graders are ready for this at the same time. I did always maintain journaling requirements during the reading and really participated as a reader during the first rounds. One classroom tradition established was that final celebration included discussion and treats (fruit juice and cookies), as our model was adult book clubs. Only members who had met the group's established goals and deadlines were in on this party, which took place in the classroom during literacy block. Then we did literature circles with the whole class. I offered lots of choices on a ballet that included a description of each book along with recommendations to give some clue as to reading levels. For example:
Cam Jansen and the Triceratops Mystery-- Cam and her best friend Eric are at again, this time solving a mystery in a local museum. If you are a Cam Jansen fan or a young Cam Jansen series reader who is ready for more, this is the book for you! Kids took the ballets home and had a day or two to think through their choices, network with friends that they might want to read with and then they indicated their top three choices in 1-2-3 order. Doing this mean I could have a decision-making role and veto choices I knew were not going to work out. I was also willing to negotiate with teams when the book might not be an obvious match for readers. For example, once I had two buddies who wanted to read the Magic Tree House book with the dinosaurs. For one the book was a real walk in the park (thinking reading level only) and for the other, the book was a HUGE push. The two of them had really thought it out, with the stronger reader pointing out that he wasn't much of a fiction reader (true) and that his teacher (me) was always promoting series reading as a way to strengthen your reading muscles by getting to know characters (true again) and that he would be able to help his friend with nonfiction parts (meaning the content area info that they read from the book). The other reader was ready as well because he pointed out that the story was easier than the nonfiction parts and that his friend could help him with the hard parts. The two of them, and a third friend who was an obvious fit for the book, had a very successful experience reading this book and we jokingly referred to them as the reading Musketeers. By the end of the year, they were reading Time Warp Trio and it was a good move for all three of them. Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach and Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 5755 ----- Original message ----- From: Carmen Matsuura <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008 8:04 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Literature grps. > > I'm new to literature groups and was wondering how some of you released > students into being completely independent. I've read that students should > be allowed to form their own groups and choose their own book. A colleague > told me that she guided the grouping so that the readers were about the same > level. Any suggestions? > > So far we have only read a single book, The Family Under the Bridge, using > literature circles. One of the reasons for choosing it was because it would > appeal to reading range of my fifth graders. Another reason was that I > thought using a shorter text was better for introducing literature circles. I > had planned to use The Secret School and Crispin for our next literature > circle session (with plans to group the students closer to the book that was > near their level). > > The students and I are enjoying literature circles and I'm a bit sad that we > will be adopting a new textbook series soon. We were actually looking at > teaching without a reading series. Wouldn't that be wonderful? We will be > choosing between two companies; Literacy By Design and Reading Street. If > anyone has advice on this please email me directly at: [email protected]. > Thank you! > > Carmen > > > _________________________________________________________________ > You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/127032869/direct/01/ > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
