Second Graders Start Book Clubs!

Second grade is a HUGE year for reading growth! Many students start the year reading picture books and end by reading chapter books. They stop reading word by word and become more fluent with their reading by reading in longer phrases and sentences. They also begin to comprehend higher level texts. With all these skills they have learned, second graders have been SO excited to be in their very own book club! Our book club is however slightly different than a "normal" book club because students are not all reading the same book. They are all reading the same series, but each have a different book within that series. At first there was some confusion when they were told they would be having conversations about different books. However, with some guidance, students began to learn that there are similarities between their books and others in their book club. They have been working on identifying character traits with their characters and determining if that character acts similar in other books. Students must use evidence from their book to support the character traits they give. They are also able to use those character traits to make predictions to determine how their characters may act or respond to problems in given situations.

Through book club, students are learning about more than just character traits. They are working on their communication and active listening skills being a member of their group. Each student starts book club with two talking chips. Each time they speak they put a chip in the middle. Once they have used both of their chips they are not able to speak again until everyone else has used their two chips and then the process starts again. We have had many discussions on what active looks like and how they can show their group members that they are paying attention to what they are saying. A general format for book club is it starts by sharing what they were asked to look for from our previous reading lesson. Then in the last five or so minutes they are able to have free time and talk about their books by sharing favorite parts, questions they have, or anything else. Students are wrapping up finishing up their first book series are beginning to switch over to new book series!