Literature Circle Project

Literature Circle Project Guidelines!

To practice the core competencies of critical thinking and communication, and to deepen our reading comprehension skills, we will be doing a Literature Circle Project over the next five weeks.

Each student has been placed in a group with a different book to read. Everyone had their choice from 15 different books Ms. D provided.

What do students have to do?

We will have five meetings with our literature circle groups. For each meeting, students need to prepare the handout for their specific role related to looking closely at their book. The roles are based on the Reading Power model and include:

  • Connect — Finding connections between what you read and real life
  • Question — Leading the group discussion with questions
  • Visualize — Drawing and talking about images we make in our head while reading
  • Infer — Looking between the lines at the message behind the book
  • Transform — Identifying how our thinking changes as we read

Ms. D will circulate during literature circle meetings and provide a check plus, check, or check minus to indicate the level of participation and preparation. After the meeting, students need to turn in their work from their role on a lined piece of paper.

Here are our books based on student selection and interest:

  • Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
  • The Hero by Ron Woods
  • Safe as Houses by Eric Walters
  • Sketco the Raven by Robert Ayre
  • Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
  • Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz
  • Eleven Birthdays by Wendy Mass 

Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, May 9th. We will generally meet on Wednesdays, but we will need some flexibility given other events at school. Reading time will be mainly in class; however, I will be signing out books as needed if anyone needs extra time.

When we are finished, each student will make something to recommend or not recommend their book to others. Choices include:

  • short written recommendation for posting on the blog
  • short oral presentation for sharing in class
  • short electronic presentation using Book Creator, Puppet Pals, PowerPoint, etc.

Happy Reading!