FYI

This is courtesy of Harpreet - the photos won't go in the comments' section.

June 11, The book I shared was “ A Mountain Alphabet” by Margriet Ruurs ‘ In reading and responding to literature for children’ class, I really like the idea of bringing the childhood favourite books. Everybody was excited to share the different reasons about why they liked the specific books. I was amazed to see that all of us were very touched by the sharing of childhood book for the personal reasons. As a teacher, it is very important to know about students’ favourite books and also, why these books are important to them. Once you know your students’ favourite books, then you can add those books in the class library. I believe if students read their favourite books or the books which interest them, then their writing respond to these books is going to be very well. If children read books for pleasure, it is more likely that they will absorb so much information, and they will be able to respond passionately and clearly in the writings. The students who read the books which are interesting for them, and are not imposed by the teacher, those students connect to the books very well and their writing response are full of their personal experiences. Therefore, I will try to find out my students’ favourite books, and I will allow them to read in the class. I will give them choice for the writing respon. Sometimes, we will read books and do some projects on the books, and then we will celebrate those projects. I will not use those projects for marking.

The other idea struck to me was reading clubs or literature discussion groups often called literature circles. Students like the term reading clubs because this term appeals to them. May be literature circle is a big term for them, and they have never heard it before. Also, Students like the reading clubs because they have the prior knowledge about the word, ‘club’. They also might have heard the term many times from the siblings or parents. I believe they are having a hard time relating to the literature circles. Therefore, book clubs is relevant to them then literature circles and we all know that we like things which are familiar to us. I would say it is human nature. In book clubs, students choose books by themselves, and then find the students who have chosen the same books to make a group. Book clubs also provide the opportunity for social interactions because students learn to take turns, listen to each other, learn to make connections, and ask relevant questions regarding the text. Of course teacher has to do a hard work in order to set routines about discussions and listening to each other. It is lots of work but it is worth doing it. I have personally experienced the book clubs. There was different number of students in each group and all the students had different roles. For instance, in each group, there was a Discussion Director, Wonderful Sentence detective, Questioner, Summarizer, and Vocabulary checker. (Please see the picture.) In one group, there were only two students because both of them were at different level then the other class. The teacher always spent more time with them because they needed the most help; of course she visited the other groups occasionally. In the group, both of them exchanged their roles, and also their roles were little easier then the other groups because of their reading and comprehending level. One student’s role was to find an interesting word and the other one was responsible to find a “Fat question,” and then they were responsible to decide how many pages they are going to read from home. Once they found the question, then they have to write it onto a double entry journal. At the end of the book club readings, everybody did an awesome job in their responses to the read literature, and it was in the form of projects. The teacher gave choices of doing the projects, and every single project was very creative. I think book clubs provide children with opportunities to share and refine their responses in the company of others, also, they choose the books which interest them. I wanted to share the pictures with all of you so here are the pictures. View the pictures below for reading book clubs.
These are the responsibilities student perform by themselves, once they are taught to do so. This is an example of the project, the student has done at the end of book club reading or This is an awesome reading and literature response when they chose books by themselves..

Making Connections: Text to Self …connections that remind readers of something from their personal life. When I look at this picture, I think of my trip to the Vancouver Aquarium and how the Belugas squirted us.
Text to Text …connections that remind readers of something they have previously read, heard or seen. When I read this, I am reminded of a TV show about how Polar Bears are natural predators that know how to trap Belugas.
Text to World …connections that remind readers of larger issues concerning life and the world around them. When I read this, I am reminded of how some Beluga whales are dying.