BOOK CLUBS IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM

How does reading and talking with others help me as reader?

Book Club Idea! I was inspired by the idea by Debbie Miller’s book, Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Classroom (2013, p.121) Personal connection for me was that I am a part of a book club and love hanging out with friends and discussing books I invited four moms to model how a book club works as we observed their conversations I wanted to engage all students to talk about books and their personal connections to them and to learn from each other Book Club Rules

Setting it up!!! Small groups of students; 4- 7 students per group Similar in reading ability; we created the groups based on F & P data collected in January “Ability-based grouping is necessary for providing students with reading materials that are on their correct reading level…” (Tracey & Morrow, 2012, p.178) Variety of reading materials are provided using fiction, non-fiction texts, chapter books, picture books and Raz- Kids on the I-Pads Teachers role is to scaffold the learning but to step back and listen as students engage in conversations about texts and their personal connections, inferences, questions,etc.

What we do in Book Clubs? “The premise of Vygotsky’s work is the belief that children learn as a result of their social interactions with others.” (Tracey & Morrow, 2012, p.127)  Focus is on conversations about text led as much as possible by the students  Use the time to teach and remind students of before, during and after reading strategies learned  Discuss and choose a focus for our discussion for the next time we meet  Students read and/or listen to the text on their own or in partners, their choice

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