• It's a Mystery to Me!

     
    Mrs. Sorriero and I planned for a collaborative Literature Circle with her 6th grade MAP students again in 2012-13. Students read mysteries and met to discuss the books. We expanded our Circle by adding technology to the year's reading. We shared our circle with Mrs. Janus' 6th graders at Montessori School at Freddy Thomas and their librarian, Mrs. Bub.
     
    Students reviewed the elements of mysteries, the roles they have for each book discussion, the rubric they used to assess their participation, and the norms for our Book Discussions.
     
    I set up a blog with KidBlog, and each reader detective kept a web log--a blog-- about the book they were reading. Students talked about the characters, the setting, even the red herrings in their story! Students from both schools posted their ideas and information and commented on other students' postings.
     
    Our #45 readers discussed their mystery with the Montessori students who were reading the same story. Students saw and talked with each other using Facetime on iPads, a program for voice and video calls over the Internet. 
     
     
     
     
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  • Mystery Elements

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  • Roles

    Students are assigned a role for each book discussion.
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  • Rubric and Self-assessment

    Readers will use the rubric to score their participation after each book discussion.
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  • Norms

    These are the basic expectations for student participation in the Literature Circle.
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