フィアースガールズ朗読ブッククラブ、10～12歳

Reading aloud inspires children to engage eagerly and connect deeply with stories, and is an essential tool for building a lifelong love of reading. When students listen to a story while following along visually, understanding of sentence structure and flow deepens and stories truly come to life. When children read aloud themselves, they get to hear the story unfold in their own voice, and to ride with the flow of sentences--becoming more in tune with sentence rhythm, challenging diction and punctuation. 

Increased comfort with and interest in reading emerges with this process, as does greater confidence and skill with comprehension--not to mention the joy that comes with sharing the experience of a story in a small group. 

In this class, we read two novels aloud together, examining and celebrating the challenges faced by the strong female protagonists in each. I will read aloud and also will encourage students to read aloud. Reading aloud for students will be optional. 

Regular reflection throughout our reading will play a main part in the course as well. I will pose questions frequently--some recall-based, others designed to motivate critical thinking by encouraging students to explore subtext. 

Our books will be Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and Cynthia Lord's Rules. 

Number the Stars is told through the perspective of 12 year old Annemarie, who lives in 1940s Nazi-occupied Denmark and whose family is helping Jewish families escape the country. Rules tells the story of 12 year old Catherine, who cares for her autistic brother and forms a bond with a boy her age afflicted with cerebral palsy. The stories are very different, yet in each, the protagonist grapples with enormous challenges and emerges a little more 'fierce' as a result. 
Both stories are also 'page-turners' that will captivate readers! 

Weekly breakdown is as follows:

Week 1: Number the Stars, chapters 1 through 8
Week 2: Number the Stars, chapters 9 through 17 (end)

Week 3: Rules, chapters entitled "Rules for David" through "Sometimes People Laugh..."
Week 4: Rules, chapters entitled "Open Closet Doors Carefully..." through  "If you Need to Borrow Words..." (end) 

I hope to see you there!