Someone asked me, "How do you do all of this and have a young family?" I am used to hearing people say, "Do you ever sleep?" Yes, I sleep. In fact, I need at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Rest is important for me to function at full speed as well as for my recovering brain. It's a fair question. When I was a beginning teacher, I would arrive at school early in the morning and stay there until past dinner. Then, most nights I was doing work at home before bed. It would've been really difficult for me to be an excellent teacher if I were just now starting with littles at home (not to say that others who are just starting and have littles at home can't be excellent teachers, just that it would've been hard for ME). But due to that hard (and likely unhealthy) work back then, I have a lot of strategies in my teacher tool kit and many resources to pull from. I also spend an hour each day in the summer working on resources that will help me durin...
It's been proven that those who read the most, read the best. So, if you want students to get better at reading, they actually have to READ. 😀
Enter: book clubs.
My students participate in a book club every Thursday during our reading block. My goal for book club is simply to get students excited about reading. By the end of the year, almost every student in my class tells me they like reading more now than they did before this year.
Book club is simply about enjoying a book. Picture an adult book club. Everyone is sitting around discussing the book they read. What did they like? What do they wonder? There is no written assignment or accountability. If you didn't read, you can still go to book club and listen to the conversation. Sure, you may not have much to contribute, but no one is taking your work for a grade. This is why book clubs are successful. They are opportunities for people to gather and share their love of reading. This is how book clubs run in our 4th grade classroom.
Much like an adult book club, there is a reading assignment to complete each week before the club meets again. Of course, I STRONGLY encourage my students to keep up with the reading and even give them time in class to read their book club book.
Student Choice:
Students are eager to read the book because it's a book they chose and not one I've assigned them. Every 4-5 weeks, I give students a Google form where they rank 5-6 books that I've selected. Based on their rankings, I put them into groups.
Our current book clubs (round 5 this year).
How do I choose which books we will use?
The books I choose change from year to year. Because I like to choose books that are new and current (along with some classics and student recommended books sprinkled in), this means I could not POSSIBLY keep up with books sets to lend to my students. Sure, I have a handful of sets and I'm always adding to my collection through parent donations, yard sales, and library sales.
So, how do students get ahold of the books?
Once students have selected which book they will read, I email their parents the book title they need to get for their child. I also email our local library and ask them to put several on hold for my students' parents to pick up. Working with the library encourages families to get INTO the library. Of course, some parents choose to buy the books, but that's not necessary.
And that's it. Students meet weekly to discuss the pages they've read, read out loud in their small groups (practicing that fluency) and get assigned more pages for the following week. No worksheets, no grades, just enjoying a book with their friends.
It' a LOT of reading.
In the beginning of the year, I lead all of the book clubs. Yep. That means I'm reading 4-5 books at a time. It's a challenge to keep up with all of the books, especially since I'm often using at least 1-2 NEW to me books each club. I listen to books all through the summer (trying to get ahead) and during my commute. Once I am assigned a student teacher, he/she takes over one of my book clubs almost immediately.
Students can lead book clubs.
After students get the hang of book clubs, I start asking students to lead their own book club. I show them how to write their lesson plans and send them off. Now it's February and students are begging me to lead a book club. This next time around, I'm not leading any book clubs because I've run out of books to let my students lead. YAY!
Lastly, I often get asked which books I choose for 4th grade book clubs. So here is my current list. Keep in mind that I'm always adding to it, so if you have a recommendation, please leave it in the comments! Happy reading!
In no particular order:
- City of Ember (series)
- Because of Mr. Terupt (series)
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Loot
- Echo
- One Crazy Summer (series)
- Esperanza Rising
- Secret of the Mountain Dog
- Mr. Lemoncello's Library
- Fuzzy Mud
- Save Me a Seat
- Cardboard Kingdom
- Bob
- Mysterious Benedict Society (series)
- The Loser's Club
- A Night Divided
- Tale of Despereaux
- Because of Winn Dixie
- The Girl Who Drank the Moon
- When You Reach Me
- Hero Two Doors Down
- House of Robots
- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
- Bunnicula
- Front Desk
- Amulet (series)
- A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting
- Lemons
- Roller Girl
- Song for a Whale
- Zane and the Hurricane
- I Survived the Grizzly Attacks (any I Survived, really)
- Wish
- Once Was a Time
- Macaroni Boy
- I am Malala
- The Unicorn Rescue Society (series)
- New Kid
- The Last, Last Day of Summer
- Far Away
- Spy School
- Small Spaces
- The Sign of the Beaver
- Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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