At Campo Elementary School in the Mountain Empire Unified School District, reading isn’t just something that is assigned for homework. Students that are in grades four through six participate in an engaging activity called Literature Circles. These circles not only give students the vital chances they need to practice reading, but also develop comprehension skills that are necessary for students to cultivate a love for reading.
Literature circles at Campo incorporate cooperative learning and independent reading in the classroom. Students are split up into small reading groups, usually with students who are at a similar reading level, and have a time frame to complete a novel. While reading the novel together and independently during free time or at home, students participate in conversations lead by one another to analytically think about the text and make observations about their readings. Each week, students are assigned roles to play in the next week’s discussion, ranging from finding new vocabulary words to being the discussion leader.
This type of student-led learning has many benefits for learners. Not only do students get a taste of leadership, as they formulate questions and guide their peers to answers, but they also are given more responsibility for their own reading schedule, pace, and assignments. The discussions and questioning done in Literature Circles foster quality conversations and yield a high effect size of .82, resulting in deep literacy learning. Effect size, which quantifies educational advantages between groups of students, usually uses a 1 to represent 1 year of advancement, meaning students who participate fully in Literature Circles are almost a full year ahead of those that do not. Literature Circles are an amazing way to balance out the literacy education students receive.
Visit Campo Elementary School at http://ca.meusd.org/ to see the other amazing things Campo Elementary School Redhawks are up to!
Media Contact
Company Name: Mountain Empire Unified School District
Contact Person: Kathy Granger
Email:Send Email
Phone: 619-473-9022
Address:3291 BUCKMAN SPRINGS RD
City: Pine Valley
State: CA
Country: United States
Website: http://www.meusd.k12.ca.us/
