Book Clubs

This is a very exciting week in 2nd grade! We started our new Calkins reading unit, called Series Book Clubs. In this unit, students are going to be working to understand character development throughout series books. For instance, in the Magic Tree House books, how are Jack and Annie similar in each book? While they might go on different adventures in each book, they still act and react to situations in a similar way each time. This makes a character predictable, and helps you really feel like you know that character like a friend. As I was preparing to begin this lesson, I had put out all of the books on my back table that we will be using to spark interest in my students before I even explained to them what they were for. Throughout the day, I caught so many students walking over to the display and picking up books out of curiosity. Success!

To begin this unit, my teaching partner and I combined both 2nd grade classes to model what a book club looks like. We talked about how even adults love book clubs (like the one teachers participate in here at Goodrich!) We provided students with examples and non-examples of what to do and what not to do during a book club. We also modeled for students what an appropriate comment or contribution looks like when speaking with your group. Students are going to be using sentence stems such as "I agree with you because..." or "I disagree because..." or "I noticed that my character is feeling..." to help them learn how to collaborate and share ideas with their group.

After our demonstration for students, it was time for the big reveal... each student got their book to read! The students in each book group all have a book in the same series, but NOT the same book. This is because our main focus for this unit is for students to understand and realize that characters in series books can be predictable, and chances are if you like one book in the series, you would like the others too! I want students to be able to discuss and reach "ah-ha" moments with each other when they realize, "Hey, my character acted the same way in my book!"

To get our first book club meeting rolling, I assigned a "meeting spot" for each group to gather at each time they meet. Students sit in a circle, and to help assist with what to discuss, I used the Kagan structure Talking Chips. In this structure, each student receives two "talking chips" and when you have something to comment, you put one of your chips in the middle. This way, it keeps every student accountable for responding and interacting with their book club, and it also prevents one student from dominating a conversation.

Overall, so far so good! Students are excited about their new book club responsibility, and it has really reinforced their love of reading. I can't wait to see how these book clubs progress!