Literature Circles: How To Organize Them 

I LOVE teaching reading through Literature Circles. It allows me to have an extra group of high readers self managing themselves and using reading strategies to become independent thinkers. It does take a lot of work for me on the fore front with teaching and modeling, but it is well worth it. Many teachers I've talked to are afraid to try Literature Circles. They are afraid of messing them up or not teaching them the right way. Well, I have to admit, I was too at first, but with practice I got better about my expectations and therefore my groups were getting more self managed and independent. This then allowed me to focus more time and energy on my low readers during guided reading while my Literature Circle was meeting. Here is a picture of my group I had last year. They met on the carpet in a circle, still visible to me as I was sitting at my horseshoe table with my other guided reading groups.

Here are some questions that other teachers have asked me: 
"How do you organize this?" 
"How do I get them started?" 
"What reading levels do the students need to be at for this?" 
"What books do I use?" 

I usually start my first graders in Literature circles in January. At this time of year, they are more independent and self managed readers that can easily carry out their job roles with no problem. 
Each student has a red folder. Inside their folder is the chapter book, job role calendar, journal and job description page. 
I sit with them for about 6 times before they are able to carry this task out on their own. I have them sit at my horseshoe table first so we can practice what it looks like and sounds like. 

Starting in January 

Starting in January

I prefer the students to be at least a level J or higher to be in my Literature Circle. I like to have them read Magic Tree House books, but you can use anything that you think you're students might be interested in as long as it's not too hard or too complicated to comprehend. My students LOVE the Magic Tree House books, because I read them all year long. So, when I tell my Literature Circle that they are now reading Magic Tree House books by themselves... they are super excited about reading! I just love that! 

Each student has a job role description page and a calendar that they refer to so they know which job role that they are for the day. I have six different rotations of jobs:

Here they can refer back to the job description page if ever they are confused about their job. Of course, I model each job for them so they know what to do, but just in case... I've found this is helpful to have in their folder. 

Here is the job calendar that the students have in their folder too:

You could have your groups meet two days or three days a week, I usually have mine meet two days a week on Tuesday/Thursday.
I want the students to each read one page a day. This way they are not taking so long to read a whole chapter. Each student is responsible for reading their own page and responding in their journal in the back of their folder. So, whatever job they have for the day, that is how they will organize their information to share with the group. When everyone is finished responding, then they each take turns to share their journal and this is where the discussion about the story can really take off. It's so rewarding to hear the vocabulary, inferencing, predicting, and talking about the story and they LOVE it!  Here is my template that I use for their responses:

Whoever the Discussion Director is for the day is my helper. They are in charge of keeping the group on task and not talking off subject. They LOVE this job and it makes them feel so proud! 

I hope you got some good ideas for how to set up your Literature Circle in your classroom. If first graders can do it, I just know that the older students will REALLY do a great job with it. I know that if you try it, you'll really love the outcome and then it frees up your extra time to work with your low readers too.
If you are interested in seeing more of my Literature Circle packet, click  here. 

Happy Reading! 

Love, Kara