Book Clubs Bundle

First off, sorry for the fuzzy pictures. I couldn't tell they were fuzzy until I got home and put them on my computer...:-/

I have updated and made changes to my book club packet many times. I keep finding ways to make it better as my students use them this year. It is still a work in progress but I am loving them! My whole first class is using them! I'm very lucky to say that all of my students in my first class are reading above where they need to be by the end of the year! woohoo! :) So, this is such a great way to get them to love reading even more and be able to share it with each other! They are all about these book clubs!

I decided to write about how I organize and work my book club groups. So, here we go. 

Basically I use the book clubs for my high readers. The book club is when I get a group of students together to read, respond, and share about a book. 

Book Choices

First, I go to my literacy library and pull out many sets of books at the different levels that my students range.  I set them out and had my students choose which book that they wanted to read as a first and second choice. They were able to choose the book and that made it all the more special for them. I made sure that there were no more than 6 students to a book/group and that their choice was not above their independent reading level. 

Book Club Group Folder

Once choices are made, I call up the groups and discuss the Book Club folders with them. These folders have all that they will need for their book club jobs and meetings.

Inside the Book Club folders are;

Jobs Chart

Meeting Reports

Individual Student Book Club Packets

Meeting Expectations 

Checklist for Next Meeting

These book club folders are kept together in a magazine holder next to our class library by my small group table. This is where they stay. If a student needs to work on their book club packet, they come retrieve it from their group folder and take it to their seat. When they are done working on it, their packet goes back into the group folder. I do this because I have a lot of students that easily lose things. This is the only way to ensure that they do not lose their packet.

They also take the folder with them when they have their meetings. 

Book Club Packets

Each student gets an individual Book Club Packet. This packet has all of their jobs included. 

The packet includes;

Title Page

Schema Page

JOBS:

Question Creator

Summarizer

Word Wizard

Character Charter

Visualizer

Connector

Feeler

Predictor

Main Idea Detective
Synthesizor

Interesting Words List

This packet is where the students respond to the book that they are reading. At the end of each meeting the group chooses what sections/chapters they are going to read for the week. They can chose one or two chapters at a time. I tell them not to choose more than two chapters for a week.  Then the students chose their individual jobs for the week. They must all have a different job and a job they haven't done yet. This is where the job chart comes into play. They check off the jobs they have been to keep track. Once they make their choice, they go their separate ways and throughout the week during reading workshop and independent reading the students read their section and respond by completing their job. They know that they have until the following Monday to read and complete their job.

Book Club Meetings

I chose Mondays for my class to take part in their book club meetings. This was the easiest for me to keep track of. Each Monday during reading time, the groups get together and share their jobs and discuss the chapters that they read. During this time, I walk around with my conferencing notebook and sit in on the different book club meetings to listen and take notes. I use my book club observation sheets that are included in the bundled packet. Sometimes I discuss with them, other times I just listen and observe. This depends on how well the group is working on their own. Some groups need more guidance than others. Definitely when a group is new to book club then I sit in and go through the meeting with them guiding them in the right direction.

Finishing a Book

Once the group is finished with a book I have them complete some sort of an activity to tie the whole book together. This is usually done over the week after their last group meeting and shared on the following Monday. Then the group is able to choose a new book for the next book club. 

You can find my whole Book Club Packet Bundle which includes all that you need to put your own book clubs together...here at my TPT store! :)

Fancy Book Club Bundle

I hope this is helpful to some of you out there. If you have ANY suggestions please feel free to send them my way! I am always interested in improving! :)