Book Clubs
Winter Break is right around the corner which means students will start getting a little antsy as they are getting ready to be on an extended beak and well for the most of us around the States they are stuck inside because of cold and snowy weather outside. I really try to make the 3 weeks in December really engaging, although I want them to still have lots of academics before break as well. Chances are many students won't read a single word over their 2-week break. Scary, Scary, Scary!
I LOVE book clubs, or many call them, literature circles. I enjoy these because they are highly engaging, group oriented, bring a lot of discussion amount equivalent readers, and all have the reading/writing connection. I have created 4 different holiday book clubs for my third grade classroom. The book selection was based on the needs of my classroom, so these may not translate to every third grade class around the world.
- Judy B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake (GR: Level M)
- Judy Moody & Stink, The Holly Joliday (GR: ~Level M)
- Miss Holly is Too Jolly (GR: Level O)
- Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? (GR: Level Q)
Each book contains a breakdown of what chapter(s) to read during a 7-day period, except for
Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? as this was my highest reading group and I was able to work with them a little differently since the book was at a higher level. The group was independent enough to work on their own and together to complete the task.
Each group met with the teacher 2-3 times during their 7-day book club project. I know 7 days does not match up with a normal school week, so it was technically a two week project (10 days). Seven days they were reading, 1-2 days to catch up if we were behind, and/or 1-2 days to complete the final project.
The final projects were group oriented and we spent 1.5 Literacy Blocks completed them. Because I wanted everyone to learn about the books other groups read, we created large movie posters (No pictures...bummer, I know!) to try to entice classmates to read this book over break. Each student had a job (writer, artist, leader, supply manager, time manager, question master, presenter).
I hope to have a blog post soon on how these group activities work in my classroom.
After they completed their movie poster, they presented to the class what the book was about (without giving too much away). It was a great informal assessment as you could truly tell which group members understood the book well and could answer the questions their classmates asked with confidence. I added this as a grade as well.
A little more about the books/questions:
Judy B. Jones group is asked to complete summaries of each chapter they complete using Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then and then completed a final summary in paragraph form of the book. Judy Moody's group is asked to complete a variety of questions about the text. They are comparing/contrasting, describing, identifying, and summarizing.
Miss. Holly is Too Jolly asks group members to complete a variety of questions including grammar based, comparing, identifying, giving details, and summarizing. Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? is all summaries of the chapter(s) read in paragraph form.
*Each group has the "Rate this Book" at the end of
Adjective Passage
If you are not looking to create a huge project around the holidays, as there is too many assessments, projects, papers, etc. due I also love included reading into grammar skills. No matter the grammar subject, my students are always reading and identifying it in text. I think students retain the information more when they practice in text rather than the skill in isolation.
I have created a passage that has LOADS of adjectives in it. Students are asked to read the passage and find the adjectives within it. Where does the holiday part come in you may ask? Well, the passage is about a snow day! Many of us can already relate to a snowy filled day already this year!
Students will circle all the adjective they find in the text, but then they are also asked to draw a line to the noun it is describing, as that is just as important as the adjective itself.
