Literature Circles

Literature Circles

 

 

Hello all!  I can't believe May is already here!  Seems like the year flew by!!  When it gets to be this time of the year I usually get in my mood...I get obsessed with planning things for the upcoming year and making new products!  I'm sure there are many like me out there lol!  Anyway, My recent project that I just finished up is a packet for literature circles.  I am obsessed with them!  I think they are fantastic, and I have seen great benefits from them in my experience.  I had always used pre made literature circle pages that I had found on the internet, but I felt like they were always missing something (not to mention they lacked the cuteness that I love so much :)  So, I decided to make my very own and post it on TPT.  For this blog I'm just going to walk you through the pack and explain what each section is and how to use it. I hope you like it and head on over to my TPT store to go download a copy!!  Here we go!!!

 

 

This first thing on the list for literature circles are the recording pages that I created for each job.  Each recording sheet is specific to each student and they job they have.  Now, with that being said what I usually do is create a packet for each student with each recording page in it because they will all eventually get to do each job. I will discuss each job and how I use them..

 

PROBLEM SOLVER

 

The problem solver is responsible for reading the section of the story and try to figure out what the problem is. Now, some readers may not get to the main problem in the story during their selection so I decided to tweak my problem solver role.  If the student is not in the part of the book that finally brings about the main problem in the story then they will just need to find some things in their section that they believe may lead to a problem.  They can be small things or big things.  The students will draw the clues or the scenes in the boxes and then explain why they think those scenes from the story are part of a problem.  I include two pages for this job.

 

IMAGE ANALYZER

 

 

The second page in the pack is the recording sheet for the Image Analyzer.  This job requires the student to draw a sketch of all the key points in the entire section.  They must include detail.  Then, on the  lines below their illustration the student must why they chose the images that they did and explain how they connect to the story.  They MUST explain their reasoning.

 

VOCABULARY VIEWER

 

 

The vocabulary viewer is pretty much self explanatory.  Their job is to keep track on any new or interesting words that they might come across in their reading.  They are two write the word down along with its pages number.  Then they must look the word up in the dictionary and record both a synonym and antonym as well as the definition.  To finish it all off they must write out a sentence using the word in the proper way.  I included two pages for this as well.

 

CHARACTER ANALYZER

 

The character analyzer in in charge of discussing each character in depth. The recoding sheet starts the student off with giving them room to draw an illustration of any new character that comes into play in their section, or any character that is super important to the section of reading.  On the lines below the drawings, the student will need to explain why each of those characters are important in the section and describe their characteristics.  They must mention how their actions influence the story. 

 

SCENE SELECTOR

 

The scene selector is to draw an illustration to bring the whole section of reading together as a whole. They are to focus on the most important part of that entire section.  On the lines below the drawing they are to explain why they chose the specific scenes or parts that they illustrated.  They have to give reasoning and examples from the story to explain and back up why it is important to the story.

 

CONNECTION CREATOR

 

The connection creator is responsible for reading the section and then figuring out three different connections.  One connection must be a text to text connection where they have to find something in the text they are reading and connect it to another text that had previously read.  The second connection must be Text to self.  Once they read the section they must try and find a connection from the story to something that happened in their life.  The third connection must be a text to world connection.  They must relate what they read to something that has happened in the world.  If they find more connections they may continue to add to these three.  I added two pages for this and with two different formats.

 

QUESTION SEEKER

 

 

This student has the job of coming up with questions to spark a good and detailed conversation with their group.  Their job is very important and they must take it very seriously.  Their questions will determine how well the meeting goes, so they need to really think of higher level in depth thinking.  They must write down the questions along with the page number that helped them come up with it.  Then there is an answer page where they must find an answer to their questions with the page number they found the answer on.

 

SOLUTION SLEUTH

 

The solution sleuth is responsible for finding clues that may be helpful for finding out the solution to the problem in the story.  The boxes at the top of the page are where the students can/will draw pictures of the clues that they will be using from the section they read.  Then, in the boxes below the pictures with the lines they will need to explain why they think those clues will lead to solving any problem in the story.  Now, I added another page for this job.  

 

 

The second page is for the student who has the section where the problem is actually solved.  They will have to draw an illustration of the scene where the solution is finally told to the reader.  Then they must write a description of the solution and explain why it works for the story.  They MUST include details from the story.

 

SENSATIONAL SUMMARIZER

 

The sensational summarizers job is also pretty self explanatory.  They must read the section and then give a detailed description of the selection.  They must explain that sections importance to the story as well. 

 

The next part of the pack is where I created "job tags" for the students to use and wear each time they get together.  Each tag tells the name of their job and gives a brief description of the job.  These just help to organize the group and they are also super cute!!!

 

 

I am only going to show a few of these tags as examples.  There is a tag for each job that has a response sheet.  Here are a few examples:

 

 

 

I hope that you give Literature Circles a try in your own classroom!  They are truly fantastic and a great opportunity for students to learn how to work together and collaborate. If you do buy my pack please let me know how it works in your classroom!!