Shepherd's Flock

I have just under 90 minutes per day for ELA.
9:00 Come in silently and write homework down (typically read 30 minutes, DOL/Stem quiz on Friday, LC Job-literature circle jobs, Art Book due Friday).
9:05 Read independently.
9:20 Read Aloud/go over Daily Oral Language (DOL).
9:40 Mini-Lesson or John Collins Writing, depending on the day.
10:00-10:30 Stations

Stations:
Read to Self-work on literature circle jobs
Read to Someone-read poems from John Collins journals with a partner
Word Work-Greek and Latin Stems Art Book (Google this and you'll be directed to teacherspayteachers-I love this!)
Writing-John Collins writing

While students are in stations, I am meeting with literature circle groups.
*John Collins writing is a program/teaching guide our district has adopted this year.

*Please be kind, I typed this on my iPhone so I'm sure there are spelling and grammar errors.

  I use literature circles in my classroom in order to differentiate. I use suggested lexile levels given by NWEA that correlate to my students' MAP scores. This is NOT foolproof. I've found that the books my students start on tend to be a little high for them. I'll be bumping most of them back for our next round of books. I'm going to give a brief breakdown of how I manage literature circles.

1. Students choose books. This is huge for me. I HATED being told what book I had to read and never enjoyed reading because of it. This takes a good bit of work for the teacher but for me, it is worth it. I find my students' levels and then find at least 3 books in their range. I then let them choose a book.
2. Groups students based on books chosen. I don't put students in groups until everyone has chosen a book. This can be tricky if one student chooses a book no one else does. I usually try to sway them into choosing a book other kids have chosen. This usually works. The best size for literature circles is 4-5 students. That being said, last year I had a student reading on a first grade reading level so I worked with him independently and this year I have two very low students so they are in a group together.
3. Go over expectations. This is huge. I have LC Manuals that guide students.  They have expectations, rules, job descriptions, and higher level question starters. This should be fun and exciting but with all things, there's always one kid that chooses not to do his/her work. This affects the entire group. Each week, the group will decide how many chapters to read and assign jobs. Each student must come to the circle with the job done. (Any student that does not come to the group with his/her job must do ALL of the jobs for the week. They'd rather do one job than 4/5!)
4. Read/work on jobs. In our district at the elementary age, homework is not supposed to be graded. Since LC's are a huge part of my curriculum, I grade their jobs. This means I must give adequate class time for the jobs to be done. Therefore, working on LC jobs is a station during my 90 minute ELA block. I will write another post about what my ELA block looks like.
5. LC's meet. I used to just let the groups meet on Fridays and I would walk around and observe. The trouble with this is that some kids had no idea what was going on in the book. Now, I meet with the group with prepared comprehension questions (this means I read the books and type questions). I also include standards-based questions, such as story devices and figurative language. After I meet with one group, they get together and share their jobs. I stagger these meetings so that I meet with one or two groups/day. This gives me time to read the books and come up with questions.
6. Grades! Each child fills out 2 sets of rubrics. One set is a peer grading rubric. Each student "grades" his/her group members and writes comments. The other rubric is a self-assessment. Then, I grade each student with job-specific rubrics.
7. Project time! After the groups finish their books, they have to complete projects. I give them a plot pyramid and an outline that has to be completed before they may start the project. The timing will depend on you-maybe you can time it where all books finish at the same time, maybe not. This is your personal preference.

***Literature circles are what you make them. I did a lot of research before starting. I recommend you do the same and decide how they will work best for you. This post is a very watered-down explanation of how I do LC's.

Resources I used:
Brentcoley.com - my FAVORITE Start here.
http://www.litcircles.org
Google! I used google to do my research. ;)

*I plan on posting pictures or files of the documents I use. I don't even remember where I got these and many have been modified. I am in no way trying to take credit for any of the files. I'm just trying to help some colleagues that were asking about LC management and what it looks like in a real fifth grade classroom.

*I typed this on my iPhone. Please be graceful and ignore spelling and grammar mistakes.

   Welcome (back)! I want to take the time to thank you so much for stopping by to read my blog.  I took a two year hiatus for several reasons but the main reason was because I was double-dipping. Our district moved to a uniform website company so I was typing the same things twice.  I was basically using the blog to inform parents about what their children were doing in our classroom. That was then.
   Now, I am teaching fifth grade. And pursing 30 graduate credits to add onto my Masters degree. Which leads me to the resurrection of this blog:  I am currently enrolled in an online class that explores the pros, cons, theory, and processes of Web 2.0. If you are in the education field in any way and do not know what Web 2.0 means, STOP. Go to your favorite search engine and google this term. Then come back.
   The new life of this blog will be focused on creating a space for my students to post in various ways. Stay tuned...this class has changed my teaching and I know you will love what you see! Thank you for stopping by-feel free to leave comments, suggestions, resources, etc. After-all, it is the age of Web 2.0!!!