When readers are born, it is not only phonics and fluency that make us successful; it is the personal connections we develop with characters and story themes that truly strengthen our literacy muscles. Here in Elementary Book Club and Round Table, those connections will grow into ‘polished’ investigations of each piece’s story elements and being able to associate our feelings, as readers, to more vivid characters and cause and effect scenarios.  As students dive into a new chapter book at the beginning of each week, they will interact in TWO discussions a week (one teacher led and one student led). 

A) Each week’s chapter book will be ‘assigned’ on a Sunday, with a teacher-led discussion held on every Tuesday and a final, student-led ‘Round Table’ finale on every Thursday. Each student, as described in the course outline, will be expected to read half of the week’s book to be best prepared for the Tuesday discussions and have read the full book by Thursday to be ready for the Round Table! With the exception of books that require multiple weeks to enjoy, the same Tuesday/ Thursday format applies, only there are two teacher-led discussions and two Round Tables, respectively.

B) A Tuesday, teacher-led discussion might look and sound like: 
--Main characters versus supporting characters
--Personal connections/ background knowledge the readers ‘bring’ to the story
--Exploring the layers of setting
--'Discussion point’ modeling

C) A Thursday, student-led ‘Round Table’ might look and sound like:
--A ‘Round Table’ is a place where all readers’ voices and opinions are encouraged and respected
--One student choosing two to three ***‘discussion points’ to engage their classmates in a ‘Round Table’ discussion, a group of reading equals

D) ***DISCUSSION POINTS: 
Discussion points can be born from any part of that week’s chapter book and should spark the sharing of thoughts and connections to the given story, i.e. “I liked when Arthur, the main character, told his teacher the truth when he didn’t do his homework. But, I didn’t agree when he teased his sister through the whole book. If he was a person in real life, would you want to be friends with him?”

Discussion points should be shared with me before a Thursday Round Table by the week’s student leader. I will be happy to brainstorm discussion points with any student that would benefit from some encouraging collaboration! Thursday Round Tables will be assigned and scheduled during our first class together; each student's name will go in a hat and fairly picked at random (i.e. Student 1's name would be the first session's Round Table leader, Student 2's name would be the second session's Round Table leader, and so on).

All students will be expected to develop student-led, Round Table discussion points; however, our Round Table is one of warmth and healthy conversation. If any student does not feel comfortable being an oral leader for the Thursday time frame, I am equally happy to accept and share their discussion points on their ‘behalf’ or even be Round Table ‘partners’ and share the verbal task together! It is in the deep dive of each book (and the discussion points that arise from them) that are the true objectives of this course.

E) Students will do their Book Club reading outside of class, in whichever format they wish: independent reading or shared reading/alternate read aloud with a grown up or older sibling. As you will see, the stories selected are quite different from one another and some texts offer added challenges of new vocabulary and context!

F) SCHEDULE AND COURSE OUTLINE:

— WEEK 1 (1/10 and 1/12): The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh (Helen Rutter) 

CH 1, 2, 3, 4 (T)
CH  5, 6, 7, 8 (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— WEEK 2 (1/17 and 1/19): The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh (Helen Rutter) 

CH 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (T)
CH 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— WEEK 3 (1/24 and 1/26): The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh (Helen Rutter) 

CH 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 (T)
CH 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— WEEK 4 (1/31 and 2/2): The Mystery of Meerkat Hill: A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers (by Alexander McCall Smith)

CH 1, 2, 3, 4 (T)
CH 5, 6, 7, 8 (Th)

— WEEK 5 (2/7 and 2/9): Billy Miller Makes a Wish (by Kevin Henkes) 

CH 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (T)
CH 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— WEEK 6 (2/14 and 2/16): Billy Miller Makes a Wish (by Kevin Henkes) 

CH 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (T)
CH 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— NO MEETINGS 2/21 and 2/23

— WEEK 7 (2/28 and 3/2): Charlotte's Web (by E.B. White)

CH 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Pages 1 - 47) (T)
CH 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (Pages 48 - 91) (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * * 

— WEEK 8 (3/7 and 3/9): Charlotte's Web (by E.B. White)

CH 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (Pages 92 - 137) (T)
CH 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (Pages 138 - 184) (Th)
* * *See note below on potential sensitive topic* * *