I did a mini-lesson on just-right books today. I talked about how I thought of them while I was at the bookstore over break, and how I wondered how they would go about finding their own book. So I played the part of 1st grader, and they played the part of private eye. Their job was to watch what I was doing while I looked for a just right book, and then share that with their shoulder partner. My plan was for them to share their partners idea out to the group, and then practice at their tables with bins that I had constructed for them.
Overall, I was pleased. They really haven't been taught how to do think-pair-share together, but have done it (to varying degrees) over the course of the year. Partnering is always a gamble, which is problematic for me as I want kids to work in partnerships as often as possible. But they were able to find my key points (you: looked through the book, looked at the title to see if I might be interested, tried to read some it, tried to sound out words too, compared to things I had read before). Practicing... they were great too. Some great moments of kids saying "this is not just right for me, the words are too hard," and others saying "I have read this before, so I know it is just right."
The biggest issue I run into is the combination of pacing and re-teaching. Partnering and just right books are new for them, and most lessons have tended to be small group through anthologies... so this is all very new! Overall though, I'll take it. Score one for just right books!
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