Jobs for Literature Circles

Passage Picker-As the passage picker, your job will be to find and share a special part of the story. As you read, look for a part of the story that you would like to read aloud to the group. It might be a funny or exciting part. It could be something that is very important to the story, like the problem or the solution. The passage picker usually reads a paragraph or one page. Remember to practice reading your part ahead of time.

Word Wonder-As the word wonder, your job will be to find special words in this part of the story. As you read, look for words that you don’t understand. Write down on your sharing sheet, and then find out what they mean after you finish reading. You can ask your mom or dad, or you can look them up in the dictionary or thesaurus. You may also find words that you think are important to the story, like a secret clue in a mystery. Be ready to share the words that you wondered about!

Super Summarizer-As the super summarizer, your job will be to tell the rest of the group what happened in this part of the book. Think about the most important things to talk about. You may want to follow the “first, next, then, finally” plan or the “who, what, when, where, why” format. Please remember that everyone in your group has already read the story, so keep it short!

Discussion Director-As the discussion director, your job will be to make a list of questions from this part of the book that your group might want to talk about. Think of some good things to ask so that each person in your group will share his/her job. Here are some sample questions: Can someone tell us what happened in this part of the story? Were there any new or interesting words? Did this remind anyone of their own life, a movie, or another book? Try to have a question for each member of your group.

Clever Connector-As the clever connector, your job will be to make a connection between the book you are reading and your own life. As you read today, ask yourself some questions: Does this part of the story remind you of something that happened to you or someone you know? Have you read another story like this one or does it remind you of a movie that you have seen? Be ready to share your clever connection!

Awesome Artist-As the awesome artist, your job will be to create a picture of a special part of the story. As you read, think about what it might look like if you were making a video or taking a picture with a camera. You should use enough details in your picture so that the other boys and girls can tell exactly which part of the story you illustrated.

Travel Tracker- As the travel tracker, your job will be to keep track of where things are happening in your story and how the setting changes. (In some books, the characters move around a lot.) As you read, note where the characters go as the scenes change. Describe each setting in words or on a map or chart that you can share with your group.