Literature Circles

The implementation of the literacy circles went well.  The kindergarten students that were in my group enjoyed discussing the literature because it was about food.  The literary element at my circle was discussing the main idea of A Monster Sandwich and the practice was to make a real sandwich that they ate afterwards.  It was a little difficult to get kindergarteners to discuss the main idea.  They wanted to point out each individual food item that goes on the sandwich and sometimes missed the main idea which was to make a sandwich.  However, they had a lot of practice saying the vocabulary words (e.g. pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, meat, bread, etc.) as we discussed which items they were putting on their sandwich.  By modifying the literacy circles a little to make shorter literacy centers for kindergarteners, students were able to practice many literacy skills while staying engaged in the activity.  At this age it is difficult to have students “lead” a group, but they certainly can actively participate and many of them were very vocal about the items they did and did not like on their sandwiches.  In these ways the Literature Circle Technique is very appropriate for the kindergarten students. 

            The one thing I would change about the centers is the pictures used to demonstrate various types of sandwiches at the Illustrate center.  I had pictures of peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, and turkey sandwiches.  The students discussed these with the teacher at that center first, then drew a picture of themselves eating a sandwich and wrote a sentence describing the type of sandwich they like. Many of them were confused because the types of sandwiches discussed were not all the same kinds they had to choose from for their sentence.   I would change this and show pictures of only the three types of sandwiches they could write in their sentence (ham, turkey, or cheese).

            The suggestions I have for other ESL professionals concerning implementing literacy circles is to modify the idea to fit the level and grade of your students.  For instance, it may not be necessary to label each circle with a job, like illustrator or story element.  The younger students wouldn’t know what the words mean and as long as they are learning a literary element, it is not crucial for the circle to have a complicated term attached to it that might confuse them. These terms can be introduced to older, more advanced students who may be able to lead a circle with practice in each of these roles.

            This is a side note for an idea to use in a literacy circle.  I saw this idea today which is why I didn’t use it in my centers.  It is a variation on “Go Fish” but with sentences or vocabulary words.  Use small strips with short sentences or words written on them instead of number cards.