Literature Circles in Fourth Grade

Fourth grade is such an interesting year for reading instruction! The first few months are focused on consolidating everything that students have learned in grades K-3. We look at how stories are put together, how we can summarize stories, and how to find story elements. In these months, our focus is on the literal level--what happened? Who is in the story? How do the events fit together?

But as fourth graders mature, we move into looking at literature in new ways. Now that students can read and understand stories at the literal level, it's time to take them a step beyond. Literature circles are a great way to do this. When students read novels with their peers, they can talk about the ideas in the books and share their new understandings. Our focus moves beyond just "What happened?" and into the deeper questions below.

Dialogue: Why do authors use dialogue? How can we tell who is speaking?

Characters: How do characters change throughout a story? Why are these changes important?

Setting: How is the setting important to the story? Could the story happen in a different setting? How would the events change?

Theme: What are some themes to this novel? How do the events of the novel support these themes?

Figurative language: How does the author use words in new and interesting ways? Why did the author choose these particular words? What do we like about an author's language choices?

The move from looking at literature at a literal level to thinking more deeply can be a difficult one. However, I'm so impressed at how students are thinking and learning! Even more, students are asking for new books. One student said, "Mrs. Kissner, we're finished our books--I hope you have new ones for us on Monday." This is something that I will gladly prepare.