A friend stopped by today and told me her daughter would love to read along with us. We live on two different sides of the country, so I suggested she read with us virtually! Join us if you have a third grader who’d like to read, too.
Here is the handout and list:
Welcome to Book Club!
Here are some things you should know:
• In order to attend a meeting, you need to read the book. That’s it!
• Sometimes we’ll read a book about a boy. Sometimes it will be about a girl. If you are a boy, you CAN read about a girl and survive. I promise. Girls, same for you.
• To make Book Club as interesting as possible, it is good, though not required, to jot down things as you read. Here are some ideas:
1. How does this book compare to others you’ve read?
2. Three words to describe this book would be…
3. If I were the main character, I would have…
4. I was surprised/annoyed/happy etc. when _________ happened.
5. I like this book because…
6. I didn’t like this book because…
7. A great moment in this story was…
8. My favorite character is ______ because…
9. An important sentence in this story was… . It’s important because…
10. If I could change a part of the story, it would be __________ because…
11. Any of your own ideas!
You can get yourself a notebook to write notes in. You can write ideas on a scrap of paper. Where you write doesn’t matter.
• Come to the meeting with something to say! The more you say, the more fun the discussion. If you have a copy of the book, you can bring it along, too.
• Come as often as you like.
• Invite your friends!
• Challenge yourself to read a type of book you might not pick up on your own.
• Have fun!
Reading List
1. Sarah, Plain and Tall – Patiricia MacLachlan
Book level: 3.4 / AR points 1.0
2. The Whipping Boy – Sid Fleishman
Book level: 3.9 / AR points 2.0
3. The Boxcar Children – Gertrude C. Wagner
Book level: 3.9 / AR points 2.0
4. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Book level: 4.7 / AR points 5.0
5. Henry and Ribsy – Beverly Cleary
Book level: 4.6 / AR points 3.0
6. The Midnight Fox – Betsy Byars
Book level: 4.9 / AR points 4.0
7. Ramona the Pest – Beverly Cleary
Book level: 5.1 / AR points 4.0
I’ve written a series of posts about children’s book clubs. The links are below:
Book Clubs for Kids
Staring a Book Club for Kids
Running a Book Club for Kids
Book Clubs for Kids: When Problems Arise
Book Clubs for Kids: What Works
Book Clubs for Kids: Win a MAY B. Book Club Kit!
I luckily stumbled onto this post — for I am starting a mother/daugher 3rd grade book club tonight! We have our 1st meeting and are reading Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.
Thanks for the tips/questions.
Caroline,
I wanted to thank you again for this “guide.”
We had our 1st meeting last week, but my daughter was sick, so I’m just now able to submit a post.
http://gerberadaisydiaries.blogspot.com/2009/10/mother-daughter-inaugural-3rd-grade.html
This is exactly what I needed! I’m working with reluctant readers and seeking MG books exactly.
And Caroline your room of your own sounds magnificent! Do you have photos of it on your blog? If not, I’m sure we’d all want to revel in them.
Sophia, so glad this helped! “Third-grade book club” drives the most traffic to this site, so I’m thinking about devoting some posts about how to run an after-school book club.
I do have pictures of my closet office and my room office. Search for “office”. Enjoy!
Hello,
I live in Seattle but my grandson lives in California. I’d like to sign him up into a book club and have a book mailed to him weekly or every two weeks.