Literature Circles

Literature circles are a great way to get students reading books at their appropriate level in groups with their classmates.  The kids in my class love participating in literature circles, even the reluctant readers!! 

*Click here to download my Literature Circle Teacher Guide, and Student Folder Materials*

There are a million different ways to have literature circles in your classroom and there are many resource books out there to help you as well.  I use the following book, Literature Circles Grades 3-6 by Creative Teaching Press,  as a resource and love it because it has prompts as well as printable activities (mentioned later).

So, here's how we run Literature Circles in my classroom...  

I divide the kids into groups of 4 or 5, based on their independent reading levels.  In my classroom library, I've stocked up on multiple copies of books.  Over the years, I've used my Scholastic Book Club points to order a ton of free books.  When I first started teaching (and had no money...not like I have any now...)I used our school library and other teachers at my grade level to help get multiple copies of each book.  

Before we start I create a folder for each student that has all their materials in it for their literature circle meetings.  To make the folder, I just photocopy the necessary papers and staple them inside a large piece of colored construction paper.  *I color code the folders so each group has a different color.  

They will use their folder for 5 weeks. Inside the folder are the following items:

1. Their "Road Map", which tells them what needs to be completed before each weekly literature circle meeting.  (I divide the total number of pages in the book by 5 to determine how many pages the students will complete each week and fill this out for them on their Road Map)

2. 5 activities, 1 for each week.  (These activities come from the book shown above.  You can create your own activities too!!)

3. 5 "Question of the Day" worksheets for each meeting

4. A summary worksheet 

On the Monday of the first week we begin a new Literature Circle, I put the students into their groups and pass out their journals and books.  I introduce each book and read the back for them before passing them out.  Then, the students get time to decorate the cover of their journal, which includes the title of their book, the author, and an illustration.  The kids love decorating time and it gets them excited about their book.

The first time you introduce literature circles to your students, you need to be very specific about your expectations and the rules: You MUST be prepared for your weekly group meeting!  Your group is counting on you to be prepared.  That means, you need to do the necessary reading as well as complete the weekly activity BEFORE the meeting!  The kids need to bring their journals and books with them to the meeting.

I have my meetings on Thursdays, which gives them enough time to do the reading Monday-Wednesday.  They are allowed to read their books at school and take them home (make sure you get them back at the end!!).  On their "Road Map" the students know what pages they have to read before each meeting as well as what activity in their folder they need to complete.  

Here's how it goes down in class:

1. Students get out their folder and turn to the page that is labelled "Question of the Day #1".  On the board, you have their first question ready to go.  They copy down the question and then get 10 minutes to silently write and answer the question.  I got the questions from the Literature Circles book previously mentioned and have included them as part of a PowerPoint guide in the Literature Circle Teacher Guide.  

2. Students get into their groups.  I assign my students different meeting spots around my classroom where they go to have their meeting.  I have a step by step plan for the meetings that students follow.  I put this slide (part of the PowerPoint guide) up on the board each time the students meet so there is no confusion.  The plan includes creating roles for students (leader and summarizer), sharing their question of the day, sharing their activity for the week, having a  discussion of the section of the book they read this week, summary writing.

3.  As students are meeting, I walk around, mostly to the groups that need the most support, and ask questions, listen in, and help facilitate discussions when needed.  The higher achievers will be able to do this more independently and need less attention during the meeting time.  I give them 20 minutes for their meeting and give them reminders about what stage in the meeting they should be at, so they are able to finish.

4. During the last 8-10 minutes of the meeting, the students are responsible for writing a summary about the current week's reading.  The Summarizer does the actual writing and the other students help give them input.  Each student has 1 summary page at the back of their folder where this is done.  If there are 5 group members and 5 weeks, each person does 1 by the end of the book.  

This process happens once a week for 5 weeks.  It takes about 40 minutes from start to finish from the Question of the Day through the meeting.  The first couple meetings of literature circles will always take longer.  But once the students get used to the steps, it runs a lot smoother.  When they are done with the books, they turn everything back in to me and I grade their folders.  A grading sheet is also included in the Teacher Guide.

Good Luck and Happy Reading!!