literature circles

I have finally begun literature circles in my classroom,  I actually love all of the amazing learning, and discussions that go on with my students during this time...
One of the first things I do in my classroom is let the entire class experience all of the jobs in literature circles, while we all read a chapter book together.  This year I started with the book Charlotte's Web, which was wonderful..After we finished the book, many groups choose Judy Blume books - The Fudge series, but one of my groups actually choose Stuart Little and I was delighted that they did!  Their discussions usually started with a comparison between the two literary pieces and why they liked Snowbell more than Templeton..
(I had to chime in quite a bit)
But..this one particular group had a very hard time actually moving the discussions along so I decided that they needed a bit more guidance with out me being at their group all the time! 
So we made literature circle badges (worked like a charm) The front of the badge said the members role and the back described how to do the job!
It's amazing that something so simple really kept the students focused and responsible!

Here are some other materials I use to help literature circles run smoothly: Literature Circle Worksheets from super teacher       trade book from-amazon.com

from writing with chalk.com

                                         

organizer from- reallygoodstuff.com

web site for these book marks-www. literaturecircle6weebly.com /