I am here today to tell you all about how I help my advanced readers to dig deeper into books independently!
I have a small group of about 4 kiddos who have consistently been reading above grade level all year. They cam to me already proficient at decoding and reading for meaning. In January, I decided it would be a great time to get them started in a little book club. (This is just what I call it because it’s easy for my kids to understand the terminology. And they were super excited about it being a ‘club’. You can call it anything you want to! Book club, literacy circle, literacy club, book talk, etc.)
I have a bucket set up for during Daily 5 stations. My students who go to book club gather during 1 rotation each day.
The bucket is stocked with instructions, books, response pages, journals, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, clipboards, and buddy reading task cards. I also recently added a ‘talking wand’ to make sure that the group is taking turns talking and listening to their friends.
Each week, my students work though the following list of tasks.
I still meet with them once a week to practice making thoughtful connections and so I can be sure they are comprehending the higher leveled texts.
The buddy reading task cards that I include for them can be found in my TPT store and a blog post about them can be found here. The response pages that I use with my students are from my Reading Response Pack Fiction and Nonfiction.
