Literature circles with primary students using self-selected reading

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 1

• Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
  • Objective 1.05: Increase vocabulary, concepts, and reading stamina by reading self-selected texts independently for 15 minutes daily. Self-selected texts should be consistent with the student's independent reading level.
• Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
  • Objective 2.07: Respond and elaborate in answering what, when, where, and how questions.
  • Objective 2.08: Discuss and explain response to how, why, and what if questions in sharing narrative and expository texts.
• Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
  • Objective 3.06: Discuss authors'/speakers' use of different kinds of sentences to interest a reader/listener and communicate a message.
  • Objective 3.07: Compare authors' uses of conventions of language that aid readers including:
    • kinds of sentences.
    • capitalization of first word in a sentence and proper names.
    • punctuation to end a declarative and interrogative sentence.
• Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
  • Objective 4.05: Write and/or participate in writing by using an author's model of language and extending the model (e.g., writing different ending for a story, composing an innovation of a poem).
  • Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).

Grade 2

• Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
  • Objective 1.05: Use a variety of strategies and skills to read self-selected texts independently for 20 minutes daily. Self-selected texts should be consistent with the student's independent reading level.
• Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
  • Objective 2.07: Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters and concepts within and across texts.
• Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
  • Objective 3.04: Increase oral and written vocabulary by listening, discussing, and composing texts when responding to literature that is read and heard. (e.g., read aloud by teacher, literature circles, interest groups, book clubs).
  • Objective 3.05: Locate and discuss examples of an author's use of:
    • kinds of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory).
    • capitalization (titles, dates and days, names of countries).
    • punctuation (exclamation marks, commas in dates, and to introduce dialogue and quotations).
    • use of paragraphs in texts and their effects on the reader.
    • genre(s) and specific word choice(s).
• Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
  • Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.

Kindergarten

• Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies to read and write.
  • Objective 1.05: Interact for at least 10 minutes daily with self-selected texts that are consistent with the student's independent reading level.
• Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
  • Objective 2.04: Formulate questions that a text might answer before beginning to read (e.g., what will happen in this story, who might this be, where do you think this happens).
• Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
  • Objective 3.02: Discuss concepts and information in a text to clarify and extend knowledge.
  • Objective 3.04: Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences and text
    • listening to and re-visiting stories
    • discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories
    • discovering relationships.
• Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
  • Objective 4.06: Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.