29th September Reading Champions

Well it is school holidays, Term 3 is over and I finally have time to write about the successes of the term. Firstly with my Year 2 Book Club students I had fun reading biographies. Extending ideas associated with the Book Week theme, 'Champions Read', I collected together over 30 picture book biographies and designed work cards for each. Each card had only 4 questions on it which were designed to encourage higher order thinking skills. As well each student had a bookmark with generic questions on it to think about while reading the book. Each student took a book to read each week and when they came to the next session they met in pairs to sell their chosen book and then we had a whole group Book Talk/Literature Circle to talk about the week's reading. I often focussed this discussion by asking a question such as, 'What do you most admire about this person?' or asking them to comment upon the setting or the time of the story. By the end of the term most students had read at least eight biographies and we had presented a short reader's theatre-type performance in assembly. It was a huge success and I can't believe how much these children's parents now know about biographies and these people. The parents have come to borrow biographies as well, so for the next term I have removed them from their normal shelves and started a 'Biography Box'. The students were so keen to talk about what they had read. They often used the 'text-to-self' response as well, which made me realise that many of these gifted readers saw themselves in many of the lives they read about. Rather than write out a complete list of the books in the box I have made a Pinterest Board.

 Sample of Book Mark  (the logo was borrowed from a program used in England that I found in Google Images)

While you are reading this book think about these:
Biography of …
Champion of …

Which of these qualities does the person  you are reading about display?
Knowledge
Passion
Vision
Integrity
Courage
Perseverance

While you are reading  this book think about these:

Which of them was of most importance to achieving his/her goals?
Would you like to meet this person?
What advice do you think they would give your reading group?

Sample of Work Card

Book: Blockhead the Life of Fibonacci

Author: Joseph D’Agnese

Illustrator: John O’Brien

Questions:

1. Whose life is the book about?

This story is about the life of

2. What do you think is the best thing Fibonacci discovered?

3. What would you have done if you had gone to school with 

Fibonacci and you had seen how he was treated at school?

4. How would you describe Fibonacci to your teacher?