Week Two of Novel Study

Finally, after what seemed like a month of talking about it, our novel study kicked off. We started on Monday with a book pass where kids looked at the books and ranked them 1-5. Then I tabulated those and put them into book groups. Each kid gets a book, and a packet of work to do. I know I know, the dreaded packet!

In my packet of work you get:
-1 vocabulary sheet to find an unfamiliar word and go through the process of synonym, antonym, definition, picture, usage. It was provided by a wonderful teacher in the district who got it from Busy Teacher's Cafe. It certainly beat making my own reproducible.
-1 front and back FQR sheet. They summarize the main events from their section in the Fact section, write questions they had in the Question section, and respond/reflect in the Response section.
-1 cover sheet with due dates and skills outlined.

My day is a little different now too. They come in and get started right away on their reading, usually the first 15-20 minutes. Add that up over the course of the week and they get at least 60 minutes of reading and work time on their FQR sheet. During that time I am conferencing with kids, and taking notes on the computer (fluency, retell, that sort of thing). It takes away the total time I have for social studies, but is worth it in getting them to be focused on reading and getting them thinking about what they read.

How has it gone? Really great. Kids are enjoying it, and most are asking really wonderful and authentic questions. I think the highlight was having book group meetings on Friday. I used some role sheets from Literature Circles. While recording/role sheets aren't ideal, they are part of my release model. I need a go-between to ensure that everyone is on task and with it in their groups (which I circulate to while they are meeting).

Next up is week two, and getting them to improve on the work they are already doing. What do we think about while we read? How can we note the main events, and put them into complete sentences (plus have some voice!)? Where can we find evidence that elaborates on our statements? All good stuff that is in the works.