Looking into Book Clubs

We just completed our first round of book clubs.  I adjusted book clubs this year based on conversations, twitter chats #5thchat and several excellent books that I read to help me think differently including:

Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook 

By: Aimee Buckner

Join the Club! Bringing Book Clubs into Middle School Classrooms 

By: Katie Doherty Czerwinski

Earlier posts I discussed how I was going to organize book clubs and I was going to differentiate using stickers. I already used stickers on Wonder Wednesday with success. I divided my students into four different groups and gave each group a different picture book. Each day the students were given a focus skill and then each club could choose if they had homework or felt like they met the goals set for the day.  All the groups grew with their social skills including taking turns leading, helping all students succeed and how to manage their time. 

All groups started with a xerox book cover and I asked them to read through the book
writing their ideas on sticky notes.

Students were asked to make minimum of three strong predictions and use
the text to support their thinking.

Students were asked to analyze the text to complete the main character chart
Our acronym is BEST:  How does the character behave? What does the character
say? What are the character's thoughts?  How do all three effect the character's
motivation in the story.

Students focused on the plot and which events in sequential order helped
them to understand the story at the same time applying new
vocabulary that they learned.

Finally the students were asked to summarize recognizing that there
might be more than one maid idea with evidence from the story.

We will start our science book clubs in January with the same foundation but switching to nonfiction and different members in their clubs.