Reader's Circle

Today we had a nice vibe going at Handwork time, with everyone happily sitting quietly on the floor in a circle knitting or at a nearby table with the Classroom Sewing Kit, finishing their Gingerbread Man ornaments, and I had a wonderful idea occur to me. A few weeks ago I overheard my daughter, Leah, say that she didn't want to read her chapter book Stormy, Misty's Foalbecause she didn't want to have to do a book report at the end. That had never occurred to me! I personally love to stand up in front of the class and talk (that's the teacher bit in me, but I was like that even as a child) and so I never realized that some people might not enjoy being in the spotlight and giving a presentation. So I have been racking my brain to figure out an alternative, more low-pressure way, to get kids to share what they are reading and to get that interest from peers that encourages them to read more.

I thought of "Reader's Circle."

Reader's Circle is when everyone sits in a circle and knits (or sews) and we all go around the room and people share what they are reading, what is happening in the book, and whether they like it and would recommend it. Friends are allowed to share questions or comments and no one is skipped over or left out, even if they are reading simple CVC readers instead of big fancy chapter books. I started it off by sharing my impressions of one of this year's Newbery Honor books, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, which I read over the Thanksgiving holiday.




After I modeled how to share about a book, we went all around the circle, and finished with my aide who shared a book about learning and the brain which she was reading. We had just finished learning all the Brain Gym exercises so friends were eager to share with her what we knew about the brain (we also had an animal anatomy teacher from the University of MD bring in some preserved brains for us to look at up close). It was a very invigorating discussion. The children then immediately segued into wanting to share what they are reading at home (we had only mentioned what we were reading in school) personally, what books their parents were reading for fun, and what they were getting as a chapter book at bedtime. We talked about books for an hour. An hour-long discussion about books!!! Loved it. It was very relaxing and fun and every child shared and felt like a reader. We will definitely make Reader's Circle a regular event.

By the way, it occurred to me also today that since all my students are gaining a good comfort level with knitting that I should get myself a knitting project to do during Reader's Circle and to give my learning knitters some ideas about the projects they could graduate to for the future. I already have one child who is ready to start a lamb (which requires increasing and decreasing in a row of stitches). I packed a project to begin tomorrow: the Pull-Up (scarf and hat all in one one) on page 79 of The Children's Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes




As this project is done entirely in a simple K2P2 rib I hope to get some students interested in the texture and in learning to purl. I myself always remember purling by thinking of Pippi in the South Seasby Astrid Lindgren (which a child coincidentally gave a review of today) and the part where Pippi grabs the shark by the neck and throws him far away... so I mentioned as a part of the discussion that there was another stitch in knitting that I would be happy to show to people who wanted to learn it... and it is therefore good timing for me to have a demonstration available.