In a normal year the kids have a choice between certain books they want to read as part of a book club. It’s one of our units. Well, it’s not any book, but they have a choice between the options that I present. This usually takes place at the beginning of third trimester, when we are knee deep in the American Revolution. Usually I give them the choice between Chains or Sophia's War. Different perspectives about the revolution. They usually sign up on an interest list, then I split the list into the specific groups with 4-5 kids per group. I inherited a class set of both books when I moved to 5th, so I do have plenty for each kid to read their own book.
We have specific purposes for each meeting. Starting with making norms, timeline to read the book, having specific tasks each time. They have to read the group assigned pages either at home, or during silent reading, they have to be ready to be part of the group discussions.
This year with distance learning they didn’t have the novels at home, so we used our anthology. They only had one to two weeks to tackle the entire process. We went through the process a few different times during the unit. Starting with shorter stories in the anthology and bumping to larger options.
I flipped it from a normal year and first randomly sorted the kids into groups. Each group had their own channel, and I put the specific daily task into their channel that they had to respond to. I didn’t start meetings every single day, but they did have to respond each day.
When I did start the meetings, it was just like a normal year. All the reading was done on their own time, they had to show teamwork. They had to complete the tasks.
The choice came in as they were able to choose which story from the anthology they wanted to read. I did give them 3 options each time. The groups had to vote on the story they wanted to read for that week. The groups then came up with a reading plan.
Each meeting had to include:
Character Traits and Growth
Setting description
Action and Plot
Theme
Then they would have other discussions as well. Each kid has to say something. Even if they don't want to. There is accountability. No one wants to let their group down. The kids always love having Book Clubs, and it's a huge thing for me as it's finally time for me to hand off the reading process completely to them.
Usually it goes:
1st trimester - novel studies mainly whole class
2nd trimester - we split it whole class and partner/groups
3rd trimester - book clubs, whole class, and partner projects
It's one of the things I love about these upper elementary kids - their growth as readers, their independence, and the discussions they are capable of having. I love being able to sit on the sidelines and listen to their discussions. My mom always said Readers are Leaders... and I love being a small part of their learning story.
Hope this helps!
