Literature Circles by Student Choice of Genre

We spent the last two week surveying the different fiction genres. The week before last they read three different stories from different genres.  For each genre, they completed one of Jen Runde's Genre Posters.  They worked out perfectly.

Last week for some variety, I put them in three groups.  Each group read one genre.  Then, they had to complete a project to teach us about the genre they read.  Two groups wrote skits they performed and one group made a short movie.  They presented their projects on Friday.



 Then, they had to vote for their top 3 preferences of genre to read.  I had explained that we would be doing a round of book clubs/literature circles based on genre.  I chose our books based on their votes.  Everyone had either Science Fiction or Fantasy as their first or second choice.


So, I chose a Science Fiction novel and a Fantasy novel.  The Science Fiction group is reading A Wrinkle in Time and the Fantasy group is reading Gregor the Overlander.

Today we started our novels.  I handed a blank calendar template out to each group with their novel.  They had to decide as a group how much they would read each day.  They had four weeks to read the week.  One group chose to read the book in three weeks, and the other decided they wanted to finish the book in a week. By giving them a calendar and making them decide, it holds them accountable and motivates them to read.  We will be doing some different writing assignments as we read. I am going to have them focus on writing and citing text, as opposed to just answering comprehension questions.



How do you organize literature circles in your classroom?

Now to catch you up on what I have been reading:

This week I finished:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This book is a really interesting story that is paired with photographs throughout.  The idea of a phototext - a fictional story with photographs - is something that really intrigues me and I would like to research more as a graduate student. The story is about a teenage boy that always thought his grandfather was crazy because he talked about his childhood spent with these peculiar children with special gifts.  If you look at the cover of the book and the photographs, the book almost seems like it will be creepy.  But it actually is really just a Fantasy story.  The photographs add a whole other layer though that tell their own story. This would be a fabulous story to do with a study involving graphic novels, where you could discuss what are the elements of a visual narrative. I am looking forward to starting the next book in the series.

The Madman's Daughter

This book was inspired by HG Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau.  It is from the point of view of Moreau's daughter.  This was a really interesting story.  It definitely could be used for a discussion of ethics.





















Grave Mercy

This book takes place in Brittany, a sub-region of France, that was once its own country during the 15th century.  It is about a girl that is supposedly sired by death and gets sent to a convent to train to be an assassin.  The book sounds dark, but was actually more about royal political intrigue. I didn't realize that when the Catholic church went into the Celtic areas that they adopted a lot of the pagan gods as saints to pacify and convert the Celtic groups. Most of the people and details in this book are based on real people, but the main character that is trained as an assassin was fictional.  It was a really interesting story, and I look forward to reading the second book.  Historical Fiction will always be my favorite!  Now, I want to go research more about France, England, and the Celtic regions. From Wikipedia, I learned Brittany was sometimes referred to as little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain), hence now I know the significance of the term Great Britain.

What have you been reading?

Word Games to use in Teaching

I know a lot of teachers play Scrabble or Hangman in their classrooms.  Many of you may even have played Apples to Apples or the junior version.  The other day I was at Barnes and Noble, and I was amazed at how many word games there are now.  My first thought was how awesome it would be to have so many different types of games to use in the classroom.  They would be fun for a game day or stations.

I saw one game called Literati that I think I want to buy.  I thought this might be fun to use with high school or middle school.  I purchased the Origins game.  It was fun, and really made you think.  It reminded me a little of Cranium.

This Book Lovers Memory sounded fun, too.

Have you ever played any of these?  What games do you use in your classroom?  Laura Candler has some ideas and directions for doing a Scrabble challenge.   The end of the year seems like a great time to have an educational board game day. 

Book Reviews: The Wright 3 and Chasing Vermeer

My favorite librarian asked me to review some books for her. I love young adult fiction and have always enjoyed helping students find a great new book, author, or series. The challenge is finding the right book for that kid’s interests, reading level, and maturity. One of the books she asked me to review was The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett. Well, this is a sequel to Chasing Vermeer so of course I had to read Chasing Vermeer first. Let me just say I LOVED both books. They are engaging mysteries with interesting characters and they incorporate art in an interesting way.

Chasing Vermeer
The two main characters, Petra and Calder, are in sixth grade and they have an eccentric teacher, Ms. Hussey. An art fan turned thief steals a painting because he feels the world needs to know that some of the supposed paintings by Johannes Vermeer are fake and some are real. The fan thief declares that he won’t return the painting until the truth is revealed. Ms. Hussey’s class dives into the mystery by learning all about art, Vermeer, and his paintings. As a former teacher, I love the way Ms. Hussey conducts her classroom: with energy, excitement, and no restrictions. She has the ideal project based learning/inquiry method learning environment. They go on field trips to art museums and through the neighborhood on a whim. I want to live in her world with that much freedom for creativity and investigation. J As a reader, I enjoyed watching Petra and Calder get to know each other and themselves as they try to solve the mystery of the missing painting. (This book would actually probably pair well to be read with Patricia Polacco’s The Junkyard Wonders. Comparing the two learning environments would be a great activity for students).

The Wright 3

The Wright 3 takes place at the end of the school year. This time there are three main characters: Petra, Calder, and Tommy. They live in Chicago near the University of Chicago. Frank Lloyd Wright’s “The Robie House,” a great piece of American architecture, is threatened. The university owns it and the house needs more repairs then the university can afford. The university plans to tear the house apart and sell it in pieces to museums. Ms. Hussey’s class feels tearing apart a great piece of architecture is murder of something priceless. They ban together to try and save the house. In the process, Petra, Calder, and Tommy form the “Wright 3” to join together each of their unique strengths to try and solve mysteries and save great architecture. Each of the three characters has a unique personality with a distinct gift that they offer to the team.  (This book would make a great character study to look at personality traits and personal gifts/strengths. I think it also could lead to some great community building activities.)

Both of these books are engaging and include great characterization. These stories would appeal to students or adults that enjoy a just good all around story, art, mysteries, or great characters. The books are mysteries without being too scary. I would recommend them for 3^rd through 6^th grade. The vocabulary in is not very difficult and the books are probably about 200 pages with medium sized print. While reading Chasing Vermeer, I made a lot of text-to-text connections to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  From the Mixed Up Files is another great “art mystery” and a Newberry award winner, but the vocabulary is definitely more difficult. I look forward to creating some activities to go with these books, but for now I am recommending them if you are looking for a great book suggestion for a student or a fun read aloud. The books are also illustrated by Brett Helquist who illustrated the Lemony Snickett books.