Book Clubs and a Class Update

Book clubs started this week!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE book clubs.  Let me tell you why:  It is everything the kids WANT during reading time - TO TALK! They get to pick a character to study, talk with each other about their books, jot about their books, talk some more about their books, laugh about their books together, and learn at the same time!!!  Today was day 3 of book clubs and the kids were ON IT!!  I saw them jotting about their characters, talking to their group members about funny parts, asking questions about their characters, and having a good time!!  Of course, we start off with some book club expectations!

On day one, we picked our club names and picked a character to study.  I just had them all jot down their ideas and work together to pick them.

This group tallied the votes to come up with a character and club name.

Then, yesterday, we got our books and started rolling!  These kids are such learners.  Here's our club names and characters we are studying:

Book Clubs

1.        Carolina, Knox, Lillian, Draven, Paige

Club Name: Shine Bright Readers

Character: Froggy

2.  Vicky, Reagan, Max, Cristian

Club Name: Cardinals

Character: Piggie and Elephant

3. Ethan, Bently, Jack, Heidi, Aunna

Club Name: Laser Tag Readers

Character: Charlie and Lola

4.  Keigen, Rhylee, Dean, Isabella

Club Name: Blues

Character: Biscuit

(Yes, some of them crack me up too!)  

Here's some pictures of our groups and the folders we use to organize our thinking about our characters.  

Educators, do you do book clubs?  If so, what are some tricks you've used to make it go smoothly?  I'm always looking for new ways to get them involved and excited!  Comment below if you have any worth-while advice!

Here's some of our recent happenings:

• Max saw ET over the weekend, AND he's got that movie at home too!
• Rhylee lost a tooth over the weekend!
• Keigen's game was cancelled on Saturday because of the rain :(
• Dean got a tablet for his birthday!!!
• Bently straightened up his whole house last night!
• Paige has allergies :(
• Knox plays flag football and he got a pick 6 (apparently that is like an interception - Knox knows I'm NO EXPERT on football) :)
• Our class earned our 20th class sun on Friday - They picked extra recess as their reward! :)
• Reagan and Knox moved up reading levels AND met their end-of-year goals!!!