Yesterday, I gave my students a 6 question evaluation on lit circles. I wanted to see what they liked and disliked. This is also an opportunity for me to reevaluate the way I facilitate lit circles. Every student but one is ready to start lit circles again. The reason why the one student didn’t like lit circles is because they don’t like reading in front of students, but I have seen improvement in their oral reading. I was going to hold off on lit circles for a while, but I think not. They love them and so do I! I see an active involvement with their learning more than with the reading text book.
Book Jacket Project February 11, 2008
At the end of literature circles my students created a book jacket for their book. Each group created one jacket. They had several days to create their jacket with the following guidelines:
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must have a cover with picture, title, & author
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summery of book
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biography of author
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and a book review from each group member
I then graded them on the following:
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accurate details
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organization
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group participation (for this I had each member evaluate their group’s effort with an evaluation form & I also watched them as they worked)
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CHIPS (capitalization, handwriting, indenting, punctuation, spelling)
I am impressed with the outcomes. Take a look at their final projects. Click on each for a bigger picture!
It’s Getting Closer January 8, 2008
What is getting closer? Well, literature circles! Yesterday my students chose 4 books that they would like to read (from those lists I come up with 4 groups that read different books) and today I told them the books they will be reading. Seeing their eyes light up was breath taking. My 6th graders can’t wait to start literture circles. I have been talking about lit circles all year and now they get to be in one. Throughout the year we have been practicing with our reading books, but now they get novels. I have created a calendar that I give to my students so they know what days we have lit circles. I will give them their calendars on Friday. I also use Harvey Daniels book Mini-lessons for Literature Circles, which is a life saver! I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to do lit circles. Your reading class dynamics will turn a 180!
In order to do lit circles, you have to have an assortment of different books and have 4-6 copies of each title. Yes, that can be expensive, but I go to the used book store to get books and goodwill sometimes has them. Sometimes at the end of the year I will ask students to bring in books they don’t want anymore for extra credit. That’s how I got all my Harry Potter books!
Take a look at this site for information on lit circles:
http://drscavanaugh.org/lit_cir/literature_circle.htm
I will post more updates when the books start to open!
