Responding to Literature in
the Elementary Classroom

Literature Circles with Primary Students Using Self-Selected Reading
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=44

After reading self-selected books, students respond to reading in a journal and talk about their books daily in small, heterogeneous groups. The teacher guides and assesses students’ work by rotating among the groups, offering suggested response prompts and writing with them in their dialogue journals.

Book Report Alternative:
Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=236

Comic frames are traditionally used to illustrate a story in a short, concise format. In this lesson, students use a six-paneled comic strip frame to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've read. Each panel retells a particular detail or explains a literary element (such as setting or character) from the story.

Book Report Alternative: The Elements of Fiction
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=138
This versatile lesson encourages students to read a fiction book of their choice, analyze what they have read, write and illustrate an alternative book report identifying key elements of fiction, and share their stapleless book with other students in either pairs or small groups.

Book Report Alternative:
Writing Resumes for Characters in Historical Fiction
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=295
What if a character from historical fiction came to life and asked your students for help writing a resume? What would your students need to know to help that character? This lesson invites students to put themselves in just this situation. Students explore help wanted ads, in print and online, to see what employers want then draft a resume so the character they’ve chosen can apply for a job.

Daily Book Boosts
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=64
Each day at the end of their "official" reading time, students give "Book Boosts," one-minute raves about books they've read. These "Book Boosts" are easy ways to suggest a multitude of titles to students, and they act as a way for students to have something to think about as they read.

Literature Circles: Getting Started
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=19
Literature Circles are a great way to supplement a reading program in a literature-based classroom. Students create and answer comprehension questions, discover new vocabulary, and examine elements of literature. The students feel ownership in Literature Circles because they are responsible for the meeting. Any genre of literature can be used.

Mapping Characters Across Book Series
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=409
How does a character change or stay the same through the course of a book? How also does that character grow and evolve through a book series? In this lesson, students will work on a guided characterization project, mapping the “life”of a character from a book series.

Unwinding A Circular Plot: Prediction Strategies in Reading and Writing
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=292

This lesson, using circular stories, invites students to use a graphic organizer to explore the plot of the stories while focusing on prediction and sequencing skills. After exploring the features of circular plot stories, students write their own stories individually or in small groups.

Who’s Got Mail? Using Literature to Promote Authentic Letter Writing
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=85
This activity teaches and reinforces letter writing through read alouds and shared writing. Students discuss and chart letter elements and write their own letters to adults at school. This can lead to ongoing correspondence between adults and students, reinforcing letter-writing skills beyond the classroom lesson.

Writing ABC Books to Enhance Reading Comprehension
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=392
In this lesson, students will use an online interactive, the Alphabet Organizer, to think critically about a piece of literature. Using the alphabet as an organizing structure, students will analyze literary elements in the story, such as characters, setting, and themes, organizing their observations in an alphabet book.  

Graphic Map
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/graphicmap/

The Graphic Map assists teachers and students in reading and writing activities by charting the high and low points related to a particular item or group of items, such as events during a day or chapters in a book.