Literature Circles with Primary Children March 17, 2004

Positives of Literature Circles Literature circles focus on talking about books – events, people, ideas, and feelings in the stories. A student doesn’t have to be able to read to be in a literature circle. Everyone can be “on grade level” in a book club.

Kindergarten Model Use fairy tales as the content to be discussed. Ex. Why were Cinderella’s stepsisters so mean to her? What would you have done if you had been in her slippers? Use the read aloud that lends itself for discussion

Read Aloud Teacher reads the beginning of the book with expression, stopping at the climax. Students go back to their tables for 5 minutes of a book club meeting. They are to predict the ending giving reasons why based on the details. Group comes to a consensus. Reports the consensus to the whole group.

Literature Circles in Kindergarten & Third Grade After the read aloud help students become familiar with the terms – illustrator, connector, summarizer, and word wizard. Pair each kindergartener with a third grader. Groups may consist of six third-graders and four kindergarteners. One third grade student reads the text to the students and another third grade student leads the discussion. The other four third graders help the kindergarteners with the four roles.

There is no one right way to do literature circles. Change and adapt the procedures to fit you and your class. It takes time for children to understand how to have good literature discussions.