Showing posts with label Book Clubs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Clubs. Show all posts
Sunday, February 13, 2022
How to Run Book Clubs
Happy Pre-Valentine's Day! I hope you were able to get out this weekend or tomorrow to hang with your friends and family. Maybe you showed some LOVE by cheering on your favorite Super Bowl team!
I wanted to take this week to focus on Book Clubs and how exactly they work. First of all What is a Book Club? A Book Club or Literature Circle, is small group of students reading the SAME book. It can be a book they they have chosen themselves, chosen from a pre-picked list by the teacher, or assigned to them.
How Does It Work?!
Good question! A working Book Club is going to look different at each grade level because of the expectations in independence, questions, and leadership. Basically your Book Club is a time for REFLECTION and COLLABORATION of ideas for students.
Step 1: Planning
I usually give my students a list of books (and this will depend on what you have available to you in multiple copies in your building or library). I have them put their top choices either on Sticky Notes OR I love to use a Google Form for their picks. I be sure to note the reading level (just generically easy, hard, or just right in terms of the grouping of books). I also DON'T give students a heads up about the books and have them choose immediately so they aren't able to collaborate with their friend because it should be about interest and reading level NOT who is going to be in the group.
Step 2: Build Groups/Set a Schedule
Groups are built on what they are reading. So get the groups together and then explain the RULES of Book Club. All the rules will be different, but if you check out my Book Clubs pack above it will have a RULES book for students for you to get started. Also set a schedule of how many pages/chapters students will read each day and what they need to prep for the next "meeting" of their group.
Step 3: Gather Information/Writing Responses
Students will gather information for their Book Club meeting such as writing down new vocabulary words, thoughts, questions, and connections. I like to teach students to write these notes on a sticky note and put in their book. You may like to have students write in a special notebook, journal, or a created document. I have these pages already created that you can laminate and students can write names s well as, blank ones you can assign as an EASEL activity for groups to write responses or for them to write their own!
I have organizers in this Response and Record Book if you want to check it out! Organizers include: 14 graphic organizers on inferring, asking questions, making connections, or author's purpose. Use this Response Book all year for independent reading, as well as Book Clubs.
Need ideas?! Here are some books that you may want to check out for Book Clubs!
|
Book |
Author |
Reading Level |
|
Flora and Ulysses
Because of Winn
Dixie
The Miraculous
Journey of Edward Tulane |
Kate DiCamillo |
3rd/4th Grade |
|
The BFG
|
Roald Dahl |
3rd/4th Grade |
|
The Chocolate
Touch |
Patrick Skene
Catling |
3rd Grade |
|
Any Magic
Treehouse Book |
Mary Pope Osborne |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
The Little Prince |
Antoine de
Saint-Exupery |
3rd Grade |
|
Cam Jansen Series |
David Adler |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
Time Warp Trio
Books |
Jon Scieszka |
3rd Grade |
|
It's Raining Pigs
and Poodles (poetry) |
Jack Prelutsky |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
The Year of Billy
Miller |
Kevin Henkes |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
Pax
Clementine Series |
Sara Pennypacker |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
The Penderwicks |
Jeanne Birdsall |
4th/5th
grade |
|
Frindle
Lunch Money |
Andrew Clements |
2nd/3rd Grade |
|
The One and Only
Ivan |
Katherine
Applegate |
4th/5th/6th Grade |
|
Where the Red
Fern Grows |
Wilson Rawls |
5th/6th Grade |
|
Hatchet |
Gary Paulson |
4th/5th Grade |
|
The Giver |
Lois Lowry |
5th/6th Grade |
|
11 Birthdays |
Wendy Mass |
5th Grade |
|
The Lion the
Witch and the Wardrobe |
C.S. Lewis |
4th Grade |
|
Wonder |
RJ Palacio |
5th/6th Grade |
|
Out of My Mind |
Sharon Draper |
5th/6th Grade |
|
Escape from Mr.
Lemoncello’s Library |
Chris Grabenstein |
5th/6th Grade |
|
When you Reach Me |
Rebecca Stead |
4th/5th Grade |
|
Hoot |
Carl Hiassen |
|
|
Bridge to Terabithia |
Katherine
Paterson |
4th/5th
grade |
|
Esperanza Rising |
Pam Munoz Ryan |
5th/6th
grade |
|
Holes |
Louis Sachar |
5th/6th
grade |
Scholastic has a Book of the Week that is on sale! *not sponsored
I like to get Book Club books from Scholastic as they often have books for $2 or less per book. It's a great way to get a set of books without breaking the bank. You could also create a Wish List through Scholastic for parents.
Have a great idea for Book Clubs?! I would love to hear what works for you or any amazing titles your kids are enjoying!
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Immigration Resources in Digital and Print!
Happy weekend! Most of you like me have MLK Day off tomorrow, so I was thinking about resources that I am using right now that might helpful to you during this time of year! I am usually teaching Immigration during this time or gearing up to teach it.
I have two texts that I recommend for teaching Immigration, but I have included a few other texts below I have used as well. There are SO many great books and resources out there on this topic. I have also linked a couple great websites I have used, as well as a digital escape room that your kids will love!
I do an Immigration Simulation with my students as a big culmination to this unit, but I think I will do a separate post about that. There is just too much to include!
This text is awesome because it is a question/answer format with short sections that can easily be read as a whole group, independent, or partner.
The If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island Book Study Workbook below has activities to support comprehension while reading this text. This book is an introduction to the journey immigrants made when America was young. It guides students through the book as they get a better understanding of just what it would be like to be an immigrant coming to America. This can be printed OR it can be a DIGITAL Easel activity.
This text is a novel and would be great to use in Book Clubs. I had my class reading this text as a choice for a small groups. It would be awesome if you had a class set of this book and could have the kids read along with you. I have provided the link above so you can view this text.
Dominic Cantori is touring Ellis Island with his class on a field trip. Dominic gets separated from the group and hides in the museum. Suddenly the voice of an Italian immigrant comes to life and begins to speak to him through one of the exhibits. Before he knows it, he is transported back in time to Italy 1908. He unlocks the door to his past and discovers the history of his own family.
The Comprehension Workbook for The Orphan of Ellis Island is a great companion to the text by having students answer questions, make predictions, draw conclusions and analyze the text. There is a character study, as well as comprehension questions for the chapters. It is one of my favorite books to use for studying Immigration.
Other books that I have used for Immigration either whole group or Book Study groups that you may like:
An AMAZING resource is this Immigration Walk-Through provided by Scholastic. It has great PICTURES and AUDIO clips which are sometimes harder to find in other resources. There is A LOT of things in this resource so you will need to pick and choose what you have students complete/read. I have used this just as a side resource on my webpage for kids to explore on their own.
If you do only ONE thing with this resource I really like the stories of REAL kids who are immigrants on the 2nd tab. You could easily assign students to read one of these and summarize the information as a station activity or homework.
Also a great website is this Choose Your Own Adventure type digital experience. You can choose from several people as they take their journey and you make decisions along the way!
To wrap up Immigration or to get a great overview if this is all you have time for, I recommend this Coming to America Digital Escape Room. This would be for older kids that can read independently and also use clues and critical thinking to solve puzzles. You can easily break this Escape Room into different parts for various days if needed. Great for those distance learning options or assigning to students easily as a NO PREP option.
If you want to try a resource here is a FREE sample of If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island Workbook. That way you can see the resources and if it will work for your classroom. This is a PRINT and Digital Easel Resource for you!
I love this unit so much! I have SO many things we do. I would love to hear any ideas or resources you use! Happy MLK!
Friday, October 22, 2021
Get Into Character Traits and Introducing the NEW Bubbleheads!
Have you started reading novels yet this year? Independent Reading? I am sure you have at this point in the year so I am putting up a list of books to help teach character traits, as well as my FREE writing Character Trait Prompts! I am also SUPER excited to debut my new Bubbleheads to get students engaged and excited about characters in their books! I would love to hear what books you would like to use these with, so leave a comment below or email me at hilary35t@gmail.com.
Here are some picture books I love that pair well with teaching character traits. These are a great introduction and would pair well with the Character Trait Dictionary below! Kids LOVE picture books at any age and it's a great way to teach skills to the whole class.
My NEW Bubbleheads! Students write character traits and design their own head to go with the character in the story. And, the great thing is, this activity can be used with any Henry and Mudge book! Sweet! I am working on other books and characters so stay tuned! They come with a mini dictionary of character traits and pages to write supporting text.
See a preview below!
Preview of the NEW Bubbleheads!
(Can also go with Escape Room HERE or watch a preview below)
A preview of the Character Traits Back to School Escape Room!
Here is a Character Trait Dictionary to explore!
Check out this FREE Character Traits Organizer to use with ANY Book!
Let me know your favorite book for teaching character traits! Want to see more Bubbleheads?! Leave a comment below and tell me what character or book you want to see more of!
Monday, July 12, 2021
Pencils and Paper and Read Alouds Oh My!
The countdown is on! School is inching closer and my to-do lists are getting longer! One thing I make sure I have on hand before school starts are a lot of read-alouds for the first few weeks. Even if I don’t read them all, they are in my back pocket if we have some down time I didn’t anticipate, but really I am using them to teach life skill lessons those first few weeks of school (sneaky I know!)
Reading stamina will not be there for those younger kids coming off that summer break, so reading to them allows their brains to rest and for those big kids, just a break!
Let’s face it, we are all going to need a 15-20 minute reset at some point! Think about pulling those read alouds out after recess, lunch, end of the day, or just as a mid-morning/afternoon break.
Here are some read-alouds that are great for the start of school. Don’t worry about picking ones that are “new” to them. If they have already heard it they can be your experts. Remember the first few weeks are about building community, taking breaks, and enjoying a book just because.
Ideas:
Show your class two titles and have them vote on which one they want to read.
Make a digital form to have students nominate which read-alouds to read and choose them either at the start of school or keep an ongoing list throughout the year.
- Do a battle of the Back to School read alouds. You choose your top eight and then use this FREE battle sheet for them to track the favorites.
Reading a variety of books is also a good time to help get the kiddos started with a reading log. Since you will be reading the books together, you can walk them through the process. They can even rate the books with a star rating system. Click here to pick one up!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Organizing Book Clubs with Clipboards
I have my kids doing book clubs this week and I thought I'd show you how I keep the kids organized.
I went to the Dollar Tree a few years ago to get some clipboards to use in my class. Of course, I couldn't just use plain brown clipboards. I used some of the millions of scrapbook stickers I have left over from one of my summer projects, and decorated the backs of the clipboards. Then I painted over them with Modge Podge. I digress . . . My kids choose one of the boards and put their book club forms and books on them.
The clipboards also have a ring of 'THICK' questions on them. This allows the kids to quickly refer to them when asking questions during their meetings.
If you are using book clubs in your room, this might be the answer to some of organizational nightmares you might be having! If you aren't running book clubs yet, check them out. This {packet} can get you up and running in no time! 
Only a few more hours to enter the pencil sharpener giveaway! Be sure to enter {here}!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Did You Know You Can Hear It All?
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Ever wish you could be in more than one place at one time? Well, you can with the {HearALL Assessment Recorder} from Learning Resources! I love to use the {HearALL} at my book clubs. I can be running a reading group, editing stories with my kiddos, or whatever . . . and still know what is going on in the book clubs. It helps hold the kids accountable for their activity and allows me to assess their level of understanding as well.
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At the end of the day, I put the recordings on my
{Lexar jump drive} and can listen to it at my leisure!
If you would like a chance to win the {HearALL} to use with your little cuties, just follow the directions and enter the giveaway below! You will also win a copy of my {Book Clubs Made Easy}. Hope you are all having a happy holiday season so far!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
6 Weeks In - Independent 2nd Grade Book Clubs Running!
I love to watch and listen to my students run their own book clubs. I decided to get them started early this year. I have kids that I thought could handle them independently, and I was right! Check out the video. Every time I listen to them, I get cold chills! Amazing what the little munchkins can do when you give them a chance.
Here is the {packet} that the kids use to walk them through the process. Well, what do you think? Do you think your kiddos would do well with this? I bet they would . . . You just need to give them the chance!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Book Clubs Grading Rubric~Another Group, Another Day
Here's a video of them after they finished the book. It still amazes me how well these kids . . . 2nd graders . . . can conduct a very productive book club!
I even added this teacher rubric so that you can evaluate your little book clubbers! If you have already bought this awesome resource, you will want to add this to the pack. If not, you can still use this to evaluate your kiddos!
Have a wonderful weekend!
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