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Literature Circle:

Mystery GenreSuzanne Nelson

October 26, 2009EDU 323Dr. Orren

Table of Contents

Method for selecting books 3

Student’s choice book rating scale 4

Selected books and synopses 5

Whole class rotation schedule 6

Group rotation schedule 7

Overview of roles 8

Role sheets 10-18

Evaluation Method 19

Literature Circles Evaluation Rubric 20

Student self evaluation 21

Group self evaluation 22

Literature Circle Rubric 23

Method for selecting books for Literature Circle

2

The books for this Literature Circle were chosen because multiplecopies are in the teacher’s collection and they are within the Mystery genre. The books are at a variety of reading levels, which allows for differentiating the groups, as the teacher deems necessary. The students will rate their book choices on a scale of one to five. Students will be placed in groups by the teacher, taking into account the student preferences and ability levels. Ability level alone will not determine a student’s group placement. The essence of Literature Circles is for students to choose the book that sounds most interesting to them, thereby increasing student ownership and participation. The books are appropriate for fourth grade.

The teacher will give a brief synopsis of each book to introduce thebook choices to the students. Then, students will rate the book choices, from greatest interest to least, and the teacher will form the five literature circles. There will be a maximum of five students in each group. Groups will be color-coded and assigned an area in the classroom for group meetings. The Pink group will be reading A to Z mysteries: The Absent Author. The Purple group will be reading Chet Gecko: The Mystery of Mr. Nice. The Aqua group will be reading Alec Flint Super Sleuth: The Nina, the pinta, and the vanishing treasure. The Green group will be reading Geronimo Stilton: Secret Agent. The Orange group will be reading Room One: A Mystery or two. These colors will be used throughout the circle to easily identify and distinguish the four different groups.

Tennessee Curriculum Standards for fourth grade: English Content Standard 2: CommunicationGLE 0401.2.1 Continue to develop oral language skills necessary for communication. GLE 0401.2.2 Continue to develop listening skills necessary for communication. Standard 8: LiteratureGLE 0401.8.1 Use active comprehension strategies to derive meaning while reading and check for understanding after reading.GLE 0401.8.2 Experience various literary genres, including fiction/nonfiction, poetry, drama, short stories, folk tales, and myths.

Procedures: Literature circles will take place from 9:00-10:00 daily. Cool

Timer on Computer will be set for 30 minutes to initiate rotations of tasks and help teacher manage time. Students will earn or lose a point on the scoreboard for quick & quiet transitions. A daily schedule will be posted on the board for students to reference if necessary.

Name

Literature Circle Book Rating 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

A to Z mysteries: The Absent AuthorChet Gecko: The Mystery of Mr. Nice

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Alec Flint Super SleuthGeronimo Stilton: Secret AgentRoom One: A Mystery or two

Name


A to Z mysteries: The Absent AuthorChet Gecko: The Mystery of Mr. NiceAlec Flint Super SleuthGeronimo Stilton: Secret AgentRoom One: A Mystery or two

Name



Name



Selected Books and SynopsesFrom the book jackets

A to Z mysteries: The Absent Author, by Ron Roy. Dink writes to his favorite author, mystery writer Wallis Wallace, and invites him to visit Green Lawn. Wonder of wonders, Wallace says yes! In fact, the famous writer says the only way he won’t come is if he’s kidnapped. But when the big day comes, Wallis Wallace is nowhere to be found. The police think he just missed his plane, but Dink knows better. It’s up to

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Dink and his two best friends, Josh and Ruth Rose, to find Wallace-before it’s too late! RL: 2.5

Chet Gecko: The Mystery of Mr. Nice, by Bruce Hale. Chet Gecko’s got the heart of an artist. He just doesn’t have the talent. His classroom portraits get him an art show in the principal’s office-and a face-to-face with a mystery right out of his nightmares: Principal Zero is nice to him. Now that’s creepy. Worse, Zero is in cahoots with a pack of new teachers who are as crooked as the Mona Lisa’s smile. They are up to something sinister, and only Chet and Natalie Attired, his mockingbird partner, can snoop out what’s going on...and save the entire school!RL: 4.5

Alec Flint Super Sleuth: The Nina, the pinta, and the vanishing treasure, by Jill Santopolo. Alec Flint is a super sleuth-well, maybe he’s a super sleuth-in-training. But he has a sweatshirt with a convenient pocket, a cool detective pen that writes upside down, and a handy detective notebook. So, when the Christopher Columbus exhibit goes missing from the local museum, Alec is on the case. With the help of his sleuthing partner, Gina, Alec Flint races to solve the mystery of the missing treasure.RL: 4.0

Geronimo Stilton: Secret Agent, by Edizioni Piemme. My sister, Thea, is the mystery-loving rodent, not me! But somehow, I found myself going underground to find an important missing document. Slimy Swiss cheese-I hardly knew where to start! Geronimo Stilton, Secret Agent Mouse? Maybe I could get used to that....RL: 3.0

Room One: A Mystery or two, by Andrew Clements. Ted Hammond loves a good mystery, and in the spring of his fifth grade year, he’s working on a big one. How can his school in the little town of Plattsford stay open next year if there are going to be only five students? Out here on the Great Plains in western Nebraska, everyone understands that if you lose the school, you lose the town.

But the mystery that has Ted’s full attention at the moment is about that face, the face he sees in the upper window of the Anderson’s house as he rides past on his paper route. The Andersons moved away two years ago, and their old farmhouse is empty, boarded up tight. At least it’s supposed to be.

A shrinking school in a dying town. A face in the window of an empty house. At first, these facts don’t seem related. But Ted Hammond learns that in a very small town, there’s no such thing as an isolated event. And the solution of one mystery is often the beginning of another.RL: 4.0

Whole Class Literature Circle schedule

Literature Circle/Rotation Schedule

Groups Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00

5

9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

Pink Group (A to Z)

Literature Circle

Read Everyone Reads

Literature Circle

Read

Read Skills Journal Read SkillsPurple Group(Chet

Gecko)

Read Skills Everyone Reads

Read Skills

Literature Circle

Read Journal Literature Circle

Read

AquaGroup

(Alec Flint)

Skills Read Everyone Reads

Skills Read

Read Literature Circle

Journal Read Literature Circle

OrangeGroup

(Room One)

Literature Circle

Read Everyone Reads

Literature Circle

Read

Read Skills Journal Read SkillsGreen Group

(Geronimo Stilton)


Everyone Reads


Skills Read Journal Skills Read

Literature Circle Pink Group Rotation ScheduleGroups Monday Tuesday Wednesda

yThursday Friday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:009:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

Pink Group (A to Z)

Literature Circle

Read Everyone Reads

Literature Circle

Read

Read Skills Journal Read Skills

Literature Circle Purple Group Rotation Schedule6

Groups Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:009:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

Purple Group(Chet

Gecko)

Read Skills Everyone Reads

Read Skills

Literature Circle

Read Journal Literature Circle

Read

Literature Circle Aqua Group Rotation ScheduleGroups Monday Tuesday Wednesda

yThursday Friday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:009:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

AquaGroup

(Alec Flint)

Skills Read Everyone Reads

Skills Read


Journal Read Literature Circle

Literature Circle Orange Group Rotation ScheduleGroups Monday Tuesday Wednesda

yThursday Friday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:009:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

OrangeGroup

(Room One)

Literature Circle

Read Everyone Reads

Literature Circle

Read

Read Skills Journal Read Skills

Literature Circle Green Group Rotation ScheduleGroups Monda

yTuesday Wednesday Thursda

yFriday

9:00-10:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:009:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:30

Green Group(Geronimo

Stilton)


Everyone Reads


Skills Read Journal Skills Read

DETECTIVE SQUAD CLUE CLUBS Overview of Roles

Chief Detective (Discussion director)Your job is to develop a list of questions that the group might want to discuss about this part of the book. The questions should be

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open-ended and begin with How did…? What caused…? Why do you think…? How would you feel if you…? What if…? What character traits describe ? Explain. Why did…? What would happen if…? What might…? Why is…? As the group Facilitator, it is also your job to direct the group discussion. THE CHIEF KEEPS THE SQUAD ON TASK.

Word Investigator (Wordsmith)Your job is to be on the lookout for four to five words that are puzzling or unfamiliar and mark them while you are reading. You will need to define each word, tell the part of speech (choose the part of speech that is used in your passage), relay the origin of the

word, and copy the passage from the book where the word occurs. You may also discover some words that either stand out in the reading by repeated use, or in an unusual way, or are clues to the meaning of the passage or text. The investigator is in charge of look up words in the dictionary during discussion. EVERYONE KEEPS HIS OR HER OWN ASSIGNED CASE PAPERWORK.

Case File Manager (Summarizer)Your job is to prepare a brief summary of today’s reading. The members of your squad are counting on you to give a quick (1-2 minute) run down of the key points, the main highlights, and the essence of today’s assignment. The Case File Manager writes down

the clues and identifies the main ideas and events in the reading.

Clue Tracker (Passage Picker)Your job is to locate a few special sections or quotations in the text for your group to talk over. These should be short passages that you think reflect good writing or that are key or important to the story. The idea is to help people go back to some especially

interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the reading and think about them more carefully. As you decide which passages or paragraphs are worth going back to, make a note about why you picked each one. You can read passages aloud yourself, ask someone else to read them, or have people read them silently and then discuss.

Interrogator (Questioner) Your job is to write down a few questions that you have about this part of the book. What were you wondering about while you were reading? Did you have questions about what was happening? What a word meant? What a character did? What was going to happen next? What were you puzzled by?

Some questions I had while I was reading are:

Sketch Artist (Illustrator)

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Your job is to choose a scene from the novel that has special meaning to you. Illustrate what is happening in that scene. Be prepared to talk about the illustration in depth.

Crime Scene Investigator (Story Mapper)Your job is to carefully track where the action takes place during the reading. Describe each setting in detail, either in words or with an action or diagram, you can show to your group. Be sure to include the page numbers where the scene is described.

Suspect Profiler (Character Analyst)Your job is to develop a profile of the main characters. You will select three adjectives (describing and character trait words), about your character or characters and why you picked those words. You will also write the page number and sentence down in which the adjective is shown in the book. You will share

observations about the main characters.

Chief Detective (Discussion Director)Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Chief Detective: Your job is to develop a list of questions that the group might want to discuss about this part of the book. The questions should be

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open-ended and begin with How did…? What caused…? Why do you think…? How would you feel if you…? What if…? What character traits describe ? Explain. Why did…? What would happen if…? What might…? Why is…? As the group Facilitator, it is also your job to direct the group discussion. THE CHIEF KEEPS THE SQUAD ON TASK.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Word Investigator (Wordsmith)

Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Word Investigator: Your job is to be on the lookout for four to five words that are puzzling or unfamiliar and mark them while you are reading. You will need to define each word, tell the part of speech (choose the part of speech that is used in your passage), relay the origin of the word, and copy the passage from the book where the word occurs. You may also discover some

10

words that are clues to the meaning of the passage or text. The investigator is also in charge of looking up the words in the dictionary during discussions. EVERYONE KEEPS HIS OR HER OWN ASSIGNED CASE PAPERWORK.

1. Word part of speech page Definition: Sentence 2. Word part of speech page Definition: Sentence 3. Word part of speech page Definition: Sentence 4. Word part of speech page Definition: Sentence 5. Word part of speech page Definition: Sentence

Case File Manager (Summarizer)Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Case File Manager: Your job is to prepare a brief summary of today’s reading. The members of your squad are counting on you to give a quick (1-2 minute) run down of the key points, the main highlights, and the essence of

11

today’s assignment. The Case File Manager writes down the clues and identifies the main ideas and events in the reading.

The key points of the reading were:

1. 2. 3. 4.

The author’s overall message is:

Clue Tracker (Passage Picker)Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Clue Tracker: Your job is to locate a few special sections or quotations in the text for your group to talk over. These should be short passages that you think reflect good writing or that are key or important to the story. The idea is to help people go back to some especially interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the reading and think about them more

12

carefully. As you decide which passages or paragraphs are worth going back to, make a note about why you picked each one.

1. Page: Paragraph: What it’s about: Reason for picking: 2. Page: Paragraph: What it’s about: Reason for picking: 3. Page: Paragraph: What it’s about: Reason for picking:

Interrogator (Questioner)Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Interrogator: Your job is to write down a few questions that you have about this part of the book. What were you wondering about while you were reading? Did you have questions about what was happening? What a word meant? What a character did? What was going to happen next? What were you puzzled by? Some questions I had while I was reading are:

13

1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

Sketch Artist (Illustrator)Name: Date: Book: Assignment:

Sketch Artist: Your job is to choose a scene from the novel that has special meaning to you. Illustrate what is happening in that scene. Be prepared to talk about the illustration in depth.

14

Crime Scene Investigator (Story Mapper)


Crime Scene Investigator: Your job is to carefully track where the action takes place during the reading. Describe each setting in detail, either in words or with an action or diagram, you can show to your group. Be sure to include the page numbers where the scene is described.

15

1. Page 2. Page 3. Page

Suspect Profiler (Character Analyst)


Suspect Profiler: Your job is to develop a profile of the main characters. You will select three adjectives (describing and character trait words), about your character or characters and why you picked those words. You will also write the page number and sentence down in which the adjective is shown in the book. You will share observations about the main characters.

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Adjectives/Traits Supporting Detail and page

Character

Character

Adjectives/Traits Supporting Detail and page

Character

17

Character

Character

Evaluation Method

Assessment of this literature circle will be multi-faceted with the teacher and students evaluating both the literature circle group as well as individual students. Each literature circle will complete a group evaluation for how well they feel their literature circle was conducted. Students will also assess themselves individually for their contribution to the literature circle. As a result, individuals and groups as a whole will be held accountable which encourages cooperation, interdependence, and self-monitoring skills. Additionally, the teacher will complete a Literature Circles Evaluation Rubric to be kept in students’ work sample file as evidence of students’ work ethic and social skills, to reference during parent communications. See page 19.

Individual Student Assessment: Students evaluate themselves individually using established criteria of their preparation and participation in the literature circle. The teacher will also use the same evaluation chart for each student in the circle. See page 20.

Group Assessment: Each literature circle is evaluated as “group exceeds expectations,” “group meets expectations,” or “group needs improvement” based on a variety of criteria. Each group will complete the group evaluation following the literature circle. See page 21.

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The format for group and individual assessment is consistent for students. The reasoning for this approach is that it allows students to be aware of the criteria and expectations for which they will be held accountable and/or graded.

Literature Circles Evaluation Rubric Date / /

Teacher Evaluation for Student Name:

Individual Grades Exceeds Expectations Meets Expectations Needs Improvement

Habits ofMind & Work

* Student never needs reminders from the teacher

* Acted as a model to other students

* Encouraged those around him/her to focus on the task at hand

* Highly focused and productive -- took team work seriously

* Texts, journals and Role Sheets are always in hand at the start of class

* All deadlines are met, Role Sheets and Journals are complete

* Student is usually on-task, and requires little, if any, direction from the teacher

* Worked well in group -- productive and cooperative

* Deadlines are not met

* Texts, Journals and Role Sheets are often missing

* Student needs many reminders to stay on task -- student distracts others

* Often not actively involved in group

* Lack of productivity resulted in independent study

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Role Sheet* All of "Meets"

* Responses to assigned tasks indicate that student has achieved a superior and /or unique understanding of the material read

* Role Sheet is complete

* Responses to assigned tasks indicate that student has an adequate understanding of the material

* Student is unprepared for "Literature Circle Discussion" -- material was not read or Role Sheets were unprepared

Group Grades Exceeds Expectations Meets Expectations Needs Improvement

Group Skills: Habits of Work

Group members:

* Worked extremely well

* Provided a model for other students

* Were supportive of one another’s views

Group Members:

* Worked well

* Were productive

* Met all objectives

* Planned for next meeting

Group Members:

* Did not function well

* Failed to meet objectives

* Were unable or unwilling to collaborate

* Were off-task

Student Self Evaluation

Name: Book:Date: Student’s Role:

Preparation Student Evaluation

Teacher Evaluation

I am prepared by completing my reading

assignments prior to class.

1 2 3 1 2 3

I am prepared by bring my book to the circle.

1 2 3 1 2 3

I am prepared by completing my role

assignment.1 2 3 1 2 3

Participation Student Evaluation Teacher EvaluationI participated well in

discussion by sharing my own ideas.

1 2 3 1 2 3

20

I participated well by fulfilling my role in the

circle.1 2 3 1 2 3

I participated well in discussion by asking questions of others.

1 2 3 1 2 3

I participated well by respecting the opinions of

others.1 2 3 1 2 3

I participated well by making eye contact with

others.1 2 3 1 2 3

Assessment Scale: 3 = Excellent 2 = Average

1 = Needs Improvement

Group Self Evaluation

Group name: Book:

Criteria Group did great

Group did ok

Group can do better

Evidence/Comments

Everyone participated and

shared in the discussion

The circle is supportive of the ideas of individual

members

21

Group members ask questions for

clarification or elaboration

The discussion stays on topic

Circle is energetic and enthusiastic

One thing your literature circle did especially well is:

One thing your literature circle can improve upon for next time is:

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Literature Circle RubricWorth two points each

_____ A method for choosing books is outlined (name & describe the books)

_____ Four literature circles are included

_____ Schedule and rotation schedule are detailed

_____ At least seven roles are included and are clearly described

_____ Format of literature circle role sheets is consistent

_____ Group assessment form is included

_____ Individual self-assessment form is included

_____ Evaluation method is included

_____ Hard copy and electronic copy is submitted

_____ Overall unit is organized and cohesive (include rubric in hardcopy)

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Role Badges – Copy onto cardstock and laminate for durability

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Role Badges – Copy onto cardstock and laminate for durabilityDetective Clue Clubs

Multiple Intelligences

Verbal Linguistic – (word smart) Read, write, and discuss clues / stories, Narrate the story

Visual / Spatial – (art smart) Draw characters, draw setting, map the clues

Logical / Mathematical – (number smart) Measure the size of clues, plot frequency, make a graph or chart of suspects

Bodily / Kinesthetic – (body smart) Act out characters or clues

Musical / Rhythmic – (music smart) Sing a song of suspects

Intrapersonal – (self-smart) Take the leadership role

Interpersonal – (people smart) Interview suspects and victims

Naturalistic – (nature smart) Collect physical evidence, examine clues

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