book clubs in my class

One idea I like in relation to management of book clubs is the idea of giving the students ownership of their learning. I think it is a great skill to start to build in my first grade class and it is a great way for the students to monitor their own learning and take responsibility for themselves in their groups. For math this week as part of their first test there is a page that lets the kids check boxes depending on their feeling of certain areas of math and the teacher encouraged them to fill out the box they really thought they were at. I was surprised because I thought everyone would have just checked the “I can do this all by myself ” box and not the “I need a little help sometimes” box just because they want the teacher to think they understand or because of what their neighbor checked but the students really thought about these questions and I think that was a great way for them to really think about and evaluate their learning and the same ideas could be applied to literacy and having them take ownership and evaluate themselves.

Another aspect I liked about the management is the inclusion of the read aloud book. I believe I have mentioned this in a previous blog post but I have been doing read aloud recently in the class and it seems to be a time where students do as they please. Some will listen but since it is right after recess the students go get drinks and go the bathroom and some just sit at their desks, and it was like this while my CT was doing read aloud and it has continued to be the same and the kids already seem to be used to knowing that its read aloud and “I can do what I want now”. I have been in classes where the read aloud is integrated more into classroom discussions or lessons and then some classrooms where read aloud is a relax time for the students and they kind of do what they want. So I like how the book club plan uses the read aloud and since it would be a more structures time most students will listen and not be distracted by as they are in my class right now during read aloud and they will get more benefit from it. For example some students from the class that do sit and listen when I do read aloud they have drawn on the story, which is “Charlotte’s Web” and they have related it to our Farm Animals unit we are doing in science.