Literature Circles Start this Week!

For the next 5 weeks, students will be working in literature circles where they will be reading a novel and meeting each week to discuss the novel with their group. I have chosen 5 novels that are age appropriate and all the novels are at Grade 5/6 reading levels. The literature circles are an excellent way for students to practice reading, discussing what they are reading and answering questions about what they are reading.  Students have one week to read roughly 4 chapters. Students are responsible for bringing their novel back and forth from school. They can read their weekly chapters at home or at school during our daily independent reading period. Students should be able to easily read the assigned chapters in the one week timeframe. The weekly group meetings will take place on Day 4s. Students are responsible for coming prepared to their literature circle meeting with their role sheet completed and the weekly questions answered. I have gone over all these details with the students at length in class.

The weekly meeting schedule is as follows:

Week 1: Role sheet and week 1 questions for Wednesday, April 22nd.

Week 2: Role sheet and week 2 questions for Wednesday, April 29th.

Week 3: Role sheet and week 3 questions for Thursday, May 7th. (N.B. Field trip on Wednesday this week, so moved to Thurs May 7.)

Week 4: Role sheet and week 4 questions for Wednesday, May 13th.

Week 5: Role sheet and week 5 questions for Wednesday, May 20th.

For the next 5 weeks, you can encourage your child to read their novel every night and work on the weekly questions and role sheet as soon as they finished reading the assigned weekly chapters. I do not want students reading ahead of the assigned chapters as they might spoil the ending for other members in their group. I am confident that all the students are going to show me how responsible they can be by completing their weekly questions on time for each meeting. I am looking forward to a successful literature circle program! Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your support at home with this program. 

-Mlle Segreto