When meeting with reading groups, which will be starting again in October, there is a sequence of activities we do together each time we meet about a particular book. Below is an organizer created to manage each reading meeting we do together. Each session begins with some kind of word work (alphabet, sight word, word family, making words, context clue, or vocabulary word work).
The first reading session is for taking picture walks and making predictions and initial connections to the story before it is read. The children in the group then choose how to read the book, which could be through choral or echo reading. The group then goes over the basic story elements (characters, setting, problem, main events, solution, connections/favorite parts) together with teacher support. Sometimes different graphic organizers or story element beach balls are used to reflect on the different elements.
For the second session, the students review what was read last time and choose a second style in which to read. Most students prefer to telephone, finger, or partner read this time. Once the reading is finished, the group works together to complete an activity that assists in reflecting on a comprehension strategy, such as visualizing, synthesizing, critiquing, summarizing, thinking about cause and effect, and more.
During the third session, the children wrap up any unfinished activities related to the book and choose a connection or reflection activity. The connections can be text-to-text, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world. The reflection activity can be chosen from a literacy project list. The project list is also found below, and is organized by learning styles, like visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, logical/math, verbal/vocab, and verbal/interpersonal.
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