Book+Clubs+for+Primary+Students

**Introduction**
 * Yikes, this needs editing!**

With the many potential rewards of participating in book clubs, it behooves us to consider introducing them to students in the primary grades. Some key questions to consider might include:


 * //Can the key elements which allow book clubs to thrive carry over to the school setting of our youngest students?//
 * //Is it possible for any primary teacher to tap into the rich environment offered by book clubs when our approaches to Language Arts are diverse and time is precious?//
 * //How does a book club program coexist with other literacy activities such as guided reading groups?//

Before we address these and many other questions, we need to clarify some terms.

**What Primary Book Clubs Are...**

Coming up with a definition of what constitutes a book club at the primary level is a sticky business. Daniels (2002, p.134) describes some of the adaptations needed to help ensure that very young students can have a successful experience. They include:


 * Available books are appropriate for emergent readers. This may even include wordless books and kid-made books. A large selection of books needs to be available since young children read through them very quickly.
 * Books may often be read aloud to the children. This may be done by the teacher, by other students, by parents or as audio books.
 * Generally, children will read the entire book before discussing it as a group. Most of their books are designed to be read in one sitting.
 * The students will respond to the reading in drawings or writing at their own level. Older primary students may use a writing log to record their ideas and impressions.
 * Extra help may be needed for the children to recall what they wanted to share. Large post-it notes may be helpful to mark a spot and record a thought.
 * The students will all have the same role in the group. They will share from their log and participate in discussing the story in an open ended way.
 * The book discussion will happen in a single meeting.

**What Book Clubs Are Not...**

There are numerous activities and strategies being employed in the primary classroom as teachers seek to develop literacy skills. Book club activities can certainly coexist with other types of activities.

It is worth stating that book club groups will not function or flow like guided reading groups. Guided reading groups are quasi-static, based on the student’s reading ability. The books are carefully selected from a set of leveled readers by the teacher. Reading fluency is the central focus and is assessed continually.

Reader responses commonly used in a balanced literacy program will not generally look like the student logs created by readers in a book club. Reader responses tend to be highly structured at the primary level, using sentence starters that are carefully introduced or questions that are presented by the teacher.

Book clubs allow for a more student-directed, somewhat playful experience. As we will see, the teacher needs to be prepared to give up some control and take on a supportive role for the children.

**Book Selection and Student Grouping**

A key element of book clubs is that the books are self selected (Marriott, p. 13). Of course, there is a big difference between a Kindergarten student’s ability to select a book and that of a Grade 3 student.

A group of kindergarten students may choose from a small selection of picture books that the teacher holds up.

In Grades 1 to 3 classrooms, four or five titles might be displayed in the classroom for a day. The teacher could provide a brief, inviting introduction to each book and have students complete a form giving their first and second choices. At this point, the final groups would be arranged by the teacher with consideration of group sizes and personalities. Marriott warns that groups of less than three reduce the potential power of a great literary discussion (p. 16). Conversely, groups larger than six tend to reduce the voice of some group members.

It is debatable whether students are initially given real choice or simply the illusion of choice. It is important that they continually progress in their ability to make interesting and appropriate choices by being allowed to make some mistakes along the way. As Daniels so aptly states, “You can’t fall in love with books that someone stuffs down your throat” (p. 18).

**Scheduling**

Scheduling is often the most intimidating consideration for teachers when implementing a new program. The good news is that there is some flexibility when dealing with time constraints as book clubs are introduced. However, on a week to week level, book clubs offer enough depth to be part of a class routine over a full five school days. It is important to understand that they are not a spontaneous activity. They require planning, preparation by students and readiness (Daniels, pp. 80-81).

Marriott (pp. 19 - 47) describes a format which has primary students working with a variety of reading, writing and discussion activities for 30 minutes a day. These activities are based on one poem and one book introduced every week.

With the many demands on teachers and other valuable activities happening in schools, it may be necessary to set aside a book club program for a period of weeks. Daniels describes a possible two to three week rotation where book clubs are predictably interspersed with other curricular work (p. 85).

**Student Logs**

A key ingredient of any student book club is the creation and use of a response log. It helps to ensure that participants come to their discussion group prepared. For younger children, the use of their own writing can serve as a needed prompt for sharing and conversation (Daniels, p. 22). The actual form of a response log can vary from a spiral notebook, loose leaf paper or sticky notes placed within the book pages (p. 96).

Student logs function well when they are allowed to be open-ended. The student must feel comfortable recording their own personal response using original language and drawing. There may be times when a book is completed that a more audience centered project is created. However, fundamentally, “writing and drawing are used to drive - and to record - the meaning constructed and the ideas shared” (Daniels, p. 22) in the discussion group.

**The Teacher’s Role**

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