Just a reminder that students are graded on their participation in their group discussion, their reading logs (notes) and any papers that might be written throughout the class, such as summaries, comparisons, persuasive writing. The notes are grades on their paper being labeled correctly, they have included page numbers, and they have included notes from the various roles in Literature Circles. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Students are placed into groups of 5 or 6. Each group received a different novel to read. The novels are "Call of the Wild," "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," "The Golden Goblet," and "Mr. Bowditch." Each day students will be assigned specific chapters to read and to take notes on. They will then break into their groups to discuss their notes and what they read.
In Literature Circles, there are different roles that take place. For example, connector, questioner, and word wizard. There can be as many as 9 to 10 different roles, however, we learn about 6. These roles will be learned the first 2 weeks of class with the entire class reading the same novel together and discussing and taking notes together to ensure they understand the process when it is time to work on their own. Each student will have with them an explanation of each role so they can refer back to it if it is forgotten. They will also have a reading log that will be used to take notes (using their knowledge of the roles they learned) on what they read. Included in these notes is Vocabulary. Each student will be learning new vocabulary out of their novels and required to define the word and use it in a sentence. This role is labeled the Word Wizard. Each day the notes will be titled with the name of the book, what chapters were read, and the page numbers in which they took their notes from. These notes are worth 10 points. After the students have read and taken efficient notes, they break into their groups to discuss their notes on what they read. As groups are discussing, I go from group to group taking turns to listen to their discussions and sometimes participating. At this time, I also review each students notes from that day and grade them. On Fridays, I schedule a mini conference with each student and collect their grades for the week to be entered into SIS. This mini conference is used to answer any questions or concerns the student may have regarding what is being read, their notes, or the process of literature circles.
We also work on reading fluency. At the beginning of each class, students will time themselves with a partner for 3 minutes, reading from an excerpt in their novel. They will keep their times and scores on a scoresheet taped in their Reading logs. They will also have opportunities to read to me.
After we are finished with the class novel, groups of 5 will be assigned. Each group will be reading a different novel. When the novels are finished, each group will do an assigned project about their novel. Then the groups will change and the novels will rotate. It is estimated that it will take about 5 weeks to get through a book.
HOMEWORK/LATE WORK POLICY: Please see the school's policy on latework and homework in my documents below.
GRADES: The students are graded on the completeness of their reading logs, efficient notes, and group discussion participation. The grades will be updated every Friday in SIS. I will also send out a mid-term progress report.
