Books for Books' Sake

   This week was the end of the first 6-weeks grading period. So, amongst the reviewing and final testing I found time to start book groups with my students. I chose shorter chapter books, so that we would be able to complete during school time. So, what did I do differently that's enriching my teaching and student learning? The simplicity of books.
    Supplies needed:

         Books (I chose A Taste of Blackberries), a pencil, and a response journal

I wrote a 2x2x2 response starter on the board and just sat back and allowed my students to navigate their way through the book (I only jumped in to model thinking,  aid the discussion,  or to clarify)
                                       2 Questions
                                            2 NEW Words
                                                 2 inferences
*These are 3 skills that we learned about this 6-weeks. They were also to complete a Character-Setting-Problem-Solution chart as they navigated their way through the book.


Why? Because I want to challenge my students and empower them to take charge of their reading lives. They were to read for 20 minutes while jotting down their responses. Afterward, I gave them 10 minute to discuss each others' questions, new words (which they had to guess the meaning using context clues and look up in dictionary if necessary) and inferences complete with text evidence. The students had great thinking and excellent conversations. They were really INTO the story and I loved how they bounced ideas of of each other and argued different points of view.

Sometimes, less is more. No fancy novel packet, worksheets or projects needed!!