Session 3

1. This is the guided practice session for the "Book Sharing" part of the literature circle process. Have students choose a fiction book to read that is at their level. Students will be reading independently for about twenty minutes. If students are not yet able to sustain reading for at least fifteen minutes, read a story with them in a small group. You’ll need multiple copies of the same book for this group so that each child will have a book to hold and share in the large group. Students can also "partner read" during this time as another support strategy, with pairings of lower and higher reading level students.
   


2. Tell students that when they finish their book, they should think about the person in the story and what happened to him or her. Remind them that they are going to be writing and talking about the stories after reading time, and that you will be asking questions. Let students know that if they want to read another book, they need to keep the first one because that’s the one they are going to write about and share.
   


3. After fifteen or twenty minutes of reading independently, have the whole group gather in a circle with the book they are going to share. Have each student tell the title of the book, who was in the story, and something the character did. If a student has trouble answering, ask some leading questions, such as, "Was it a human or an animal?" or "Was it a boy or a girl?" and then, "Do you remember his or her name?"
   



4. When everyone has shared, ask if anyone has any questions about anyone else’s stories.
   


5. This may take some time, but it’s important to set the stage for sharing in complete sentences and listening to others. If you are lucky enough to have an aide in the classroom, break into two separate groups to use time more efficiently, but make sure the aide knows what to ask the students and understands that this is practice for when students will be working alone.