Three types of reading

This post is about the three types of reading that are currently occurring in my 3/4 classroom.

I have also blogged about this over on a collaborative blog I am part of - Australian Teachers.
Check out the great posts from our group of seven Aussie bloggers.

I wanted to just write about Literature Circles - but needed to give you a bit of background to the previous two reading group strategies that need to be accomplished before you embark on Literature Circles.

Hi, Paula from Paula's Place and welcome to an insight into my busy classroom.
I have collated some old photos to share with you the three types of reading that happens in my space.
Guided Reading,
Reciprocal Reading
and
Literature Circles

(There is also the shared read with our class novel)

Guided Reading

 The small group focus allows the teaching to be more focused on their specific needs.
source

Guided Reading is a small group reading model that allows us to work with a group on a selected set of strategies together.

The two screen shots are from a youtube video that is a great source to check out for guided reading

This resource is great in supporting teachers to do Guided Reading

The steps for a guided reading lesson are:

Before reading: Set the purpose for reading, introduce vocabulary, make predictions, talk about the strategies good readers use.

During reading: Guide students as they read, provide wait time, give prompts or clues as needed by individual students, such as "Try that again. Does that make sense? Look at how the word begins."

After reading: Strengthen comprehension skills and provide praise for strategies used by students during the reading.

Please check this site out for more information 

Benchmarking for Point of Need

The reading and writing block is a busy time for all of us.

As 'daily 5' is further cemented in our systems and structures - I can spend more time conferring with individual students.

As my children read one on one with me, I record their reading on a Running Record sheet. This process is so important in analysing what is the next step and what is their true instructional text.

'daily 5' allows us the opportunity to do this much more often. Our other students are engaged with best fit tasks while we do this. They know that everyone has this time with the teacher and it is important to not interrupt and let the reading happen.

In our state, we had a 6-18th month strategy that says that we need to take running records every three weeks for each child. Before 'daily 5' this was difficult to manage. Now it is possible to do 3-5 a day. It has become part of what we do. 

If you want some background on what is a running record and how to take them - check out this book

Reciprocal Reading 

This is a step just before Literature Circles where you teach some roles and the independence before the full on tasks of Literature Circles.

Each group has the same text and they take it in turns to be the 

- Summariser

- Question Generator

-  Clarifier and 

- Predictor

This is where we model and assist the students to fulfill these roles. 

Literature Circles 

You will love Literature Circles for your strong readers. 

They read, prepare and present responses to a best fit book. 

The level of conversation is amazing and you can explore whether you go deep, encourage alternative thinking and/or problem solve all while developing a love of literature. 

Here are some photos of my Literature Circle work.

It is a bit like an adult book group and each student has a role and prepares their read and their role prior to presenting each week. 

This is our timetable and each group knows when they check in and present. 

Here are names of books, group members and days for presenting. 

This is my note page to keep up with learning and reading behaviours. 

 These bookmarks help keep my readers on task. 

Get on board - you will love it!

Here is a link to my Literature Circle pack

Literature Circles

You will love Literature Circles for your strong readers. 

They read, prepare and present a best fit book. 

The level of conversation is amazing and you can explore whether you go deep, encourage alternative thinking and/or problem solve all while developing a love of literature. 

Here are some photos of my Literature Circle work from this week. 

My grade are working on four separate books - so that is four groups! 

It is a bit like an adult book group and each student has a role and prepares their read and their role prior to presenting each week. 

This is our timetable and each group knows when they check in and present. 

Here are names of books, group members and days for presenting. 

This is my note page to keep up with learning behaviours. 

There are some guidelines in this booklet and it will help you to begin, consolidate or extend Literature Circle roles. 

 These bookmarks will help keep your readers on task. 

Get on board - you will love it!

Literature Circles - new books

We are in the process of updating our Literature Circle books and that means reading the texts beforehand. 

With a few days to go until winter break, our lovely lady in the library has been shopping and we have grabbed some titles to read. 

These are the two that I scored to read over the break. Stay tuned for how our kids use them and what we think of them. 

One of our new books is 'Crossing' by Catherine Norton - click here to get the first chapter for free 

Get your teacher notes here

The blurb says....

My arms are trembling with the tension of the loaded bow.

I can feel Leon standing behind me, watching. Waiting.

Hoping.

‘I dare you,’ he whispers.

Cara has grown up in the shadow of the Wall, in a closed world of food shortages and high security. Her parents are dedicated to their secret work for the government, and it’s only a matter of time before her gifted younger sister follows in their footsteps.

It’s all Cara has ever known, until the summer she meets Ava and Leon. Ava doesn't care about rules. Nothing will ever be the same.

Another new text is 

The blurb says......

Can one person make the world a better place? Or are some things simply too

big for an eleven-year-old boy to solve on his own?

When Jesse decides to help Kate ‘Save the Whales’ he realises that

sometimes, it’s the little things people do that make a difference. Will Hunter,

the school bully, ruin their efforts? Or is there more to Hunter than meets the

eye?

Bleakboy and Hunter Stand Out in the Rain is a humorous and inspirational

story about the unlikely friendship between two very different boys and the

power of small gestures.

Teacher Notes - click here

Literature Circles - I just love them

This pack has taken me months to put together. I wanted to get my thinking right and ensure that it was right. It has been proofread and posted. I am so happy with it. 

For 24 hours it is 50% and is only $3.00. 

It will revert back to full price this time tomorrow. 

Literature Circles

Introduce a role at a time for a favorite picture story book and discuss the roles and how they might look. When all the roles have been covered give students the opportunity to go back and check each role as needed. Then group your grade so that they have access to a text to share. Timetable each group and give them a timetable so that they know when they are on. Details are in the pack on to how to do this.

This pack contains 95 pages

Timetable

How to set one up….

It is best to have 5-6 in each group they need a reading session and two sessions to work on their roles before they present to the group.

Each student needs a copy of the text.

As they become more aware of each role, they can devise the timetable and share out these roles.

This pack contains the following roles

Discussion Director

Summariser/summarizer

Literary Luminary 

Connector

Researcher

Word Wizard

Illustrator

Travel Tracer

and a Reflection section

Posters for display in your room

Discussion Director, Summariser/summarizer, Literary Luminary, Connector, Researcher, Word Wizard, Illustrator , Travel Tracer and a Reflection section

Interactive Note Pages

First set are cards to cut up and then glue back together. They will give you the title – meaning – role

The second set are for you to add your own information underneath the flaps 

Bookmarks

These bookmarks can be copied singly or in sets.

The photos in the pack show a set that have been pasted on card before laminating.

I have them in sets on rings My students use them to help with the roles as they need to.

There are pages that contain spelling for summariser/summarizer. Please check which one you need before printing

Recording Sheets

A4 size

These pages can be used to assist students to record their role.

The cards will assist with time management and role clarity

Recording Booklets

Print and go!

Two options - half page version or full page

Half page version - This will give you two books at a time – copy and staple together and then cut in half.

If you copy them back to back you will have instructions facing the task page.

There are two versions of summariser/summarizer

Happy Literature Circles – you will enjoy the rich conversations 

Literary Luminary

Say what? 

Today was Transition Day across our state. 

That means that our Grade 6 students experience a day at their secondary schools, it also means our Kinder children come to school to be Preps for a morning.

So at 9:00am I was with 4 year olds, at 10:00 I was with 12 year olds and then at 12:30  I was with 6 year olds. A day jumping from room to room. 

I worked with a group of  Grade 5/6's on what a  Literary Luminary role is in Literature Circles. 

It has been a while since I have worked on this - so I had to do a bit of pre reading myself before the day began. 

We had a text - read the information and chose three parts of the text that were meaningful to each reader. Then we had to justify it. This was presented to a small group and discussed as to why it was chosen. 

Some chose this because it was interesting, funny, powerful, descriptive, puzzling or important.