All About Book Clubs!

I spent a lot of time revising my book club products these last few months, so I thought I would share those with you today!  

I have always enjoyed doing book clubs with my students, especially at the end of the year.  It is the perfect opportunity to let the students show all that they have learned throughout the year.  I love seeing my students become more independent, making quality annotations about their reading, and having thoughtful discussions with their peers about a book!

I did more this year than I ever have before with close reading and annotating.  I really feel like it paid off.  My students were going through the sticky notes like crazy!

Sometimes the hardest thing about book clubs is organizing it all.  I worked really hard to update my book club products to make sure they included everything I could think of that a teacher would possibly need to make their book clubs successful.  Using the Common Core Standards? These book club materials are aligned with 26 of the Common Core Standards for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. I also created the materials to be completely flexible.  You choose the length of your unit, which common core standards you want your students to focus on, and which of the several different note-taking options will best meet your students' needs and your unit goals. 

This bundle includes all of the following:

* Lesson plans
* 14 Learning Target posters
* 7 page Student Resource Book Club Packet
* Book Club Choices form
* Book Club Schedule forms (5 options ranging from 4 meetings to 8)
* Thinking Notes Graphic Organizer
* Thinking Notes Bookmarks (7 options for mixing and matching on 2-sided bookmarks)
* 27 Common Core Aligned Book Club Focus Ideas (Can be used with the Thinking Notes Bookmarks)
* Peer Book Club Evaluation forms
* Fishbowl Observation form
* Class Evaluation Checklist
* Book Club Evaluation form for teacher (5 options depending on number of meetings)
* Summary Graphic Organizer
* Summary Writing Frame
* Book Jacket Recommendation template
* 44 Common Core aligned Book Club Assessments (can be mixed and matched together or given independently)

I also created a companion product...

The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust by Lola Rein Kaufman is a great book to use to introduce your students to book clubs due to the fact that it is a highly interesting topic, is relatively short in length (97 pages), and has much for them to wonder about, discuss, and infer.

This companion product contains all of the following:

* Lesson plans
* Additional pages to go along with the Book Clubs - Common Core & More! packet
* KWL about WWII & Holocaust
* Character Maps (blank & completed)
* Setting Maps (blank & completed)
* Timelines (blank & completed)
* Map of Europe during WWII
* 6 Common Core aligned Book Club Assessments
* Book Club Evaluation Form
* Book Club Schedule
* Three Comprehension Worksheets