I work as a co-teacher in a first grade leveled reading group. We struggled every week helping our student's understand and grasp key elements of the stories. After numerous trainings, PLC meetings and searching the web for ideas and activities, we decided to implement the B3C (brown bag book club). This idea was orginially found on Cara Carroll's Blog- The First Grade Parade. The B3C has helped our low-leveled readers get excited about the weekly story and enabled them to have the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions with their fellow peers. The weekly written activity and small group oral discussion helped our students immensely with their overall ability to share their thoughts/opinions, their comprehension, and increased their oral reading fluency.
Steps for implementing the B3C:
1. Choose a story (We stick with our weekly reading story selection)
2. Copy the appropriate book template and have students complete in class.
· Wednesday is our day because the students have been exposed to various components of the story during whole group reader responses activities (K-W-L, Schema Chart, Venn Diagram, Whole Group Discussion, etc)
3. Prior to the test, (Thursday or Friday morning) we give the students a small treat to put into their bags, pretzels, popcorn, cheez-it crackers, gold fish, etc)
4. We group the students into two small groups (due to the fact we have below-level readers we make sure there is an adult at each group to oversee the project, but if you class is not leveled you could easily pair your student's into peer buddies or small groups of 3 or 4.)
5. During the B3C discussion, students talk to their B3C members about the topic of the week (cause/effect, story elements, etc), whether or not they liked the book, why they did or did not like the book, and what part of the book was their favorite.
6. This activity reaches all three modalities of learners. The incorporation of B3C helped increase our students overall comprehension, reading fluency and activated their interests.
to my TPT store!!
I hope you have as much fun with it as we did this year!!!
Wow! This sounds just like the one I blogged about in January! I love seeing how other teachers are incorporating the Brown Bag Book Club into their classrooms, too. My kids have always loved it...one of their favorite activities throughout the week!
ReplyDeleteCara :)
The First Grade Parade