I know. It’s the middle of June and most of y’all are either out of school by now or finishing up. The last thing on your mind is probably school right now, but I was going through pictures on my computer and I realized I had never shared with y’all how I finally incorporated literature circles in my classroom. I’ve been wanting to do this forever and while it might be a bit harder to tackle in 1st grade, I do think it is doable. It worked wonderfully in my 5th grade classroom though, so maybe you’ll walk away with some ideas and some freebies! 🙂
I did my first literature circle when we were finishing up our novel study on Tuck Everlasting. We divided into 3 groups of 6-7 each. The groups were randomly selected. I had started to let them group themselves, but I wanted to mix it up a little and have them work with people they aren’t best friends. After dividing up, I passed out these little buttons and assigned everyone a job.
These little buttons were super easy to make! I found the clear buttons here
and then created each job circle, printed, cut, and popped them in. The hardest part was sizing the circles to make them fit, but I’ve already done that for you! You can grab a free copy of the inserts in my TpT Shop here.
and then created each job circle, printed, cut, and popped them in. The hardest part was sizing the circles to make them fit, but I’ve already done that for you! You can grab a free copy of the inserts in my TpT Shop here. 
I was worried that the kids wouldn’t want to wear them or they would think they were babyish, but they LOVED them! I was actually surprised at how big a hit they were.
Once everyone got assigned a job, it was time to get down to business. You can find the job description sheets here.
These literature circles helped aid discussion really well in my classroom and the kids LOVED it! I will definitely be doing this a lot more next year! 🙂
What a great way to handle literature circles! I love how it would hold every student responsible for doing a job. I can't wait to try this in the fall!
Jenny Looney
Livin’ The Third Grade Dream
Thanks for sharing this! I definitely want to tweak what I've been doing with literature circles for next year!
~Kristen
Teaching Trio
Chalk & Apples
I love this! I can't wait to use the job badges and job description sheets with my fourth graders next year. I would love to know where to find the recording sheets that are pictured for each job…can you tell me where I might find them? Thank you so much for sharing these awesome freebies!!
Kristen
kdahlhofer[at]gmail.com
I love this! I will definitely be borrowing your idea.
I would love to pin this to my boards, but I can't seem to find the 'pin it' button.
-Brittany
I love this! I love the job description sheets, the pins and the recording sheets I see in the pictures! I immediately browsed through your TpT store looking for the recording sheets, but I can't seem to find them. Do you have them available anywhere?
Thank you so much for these awesome freebies!
Absolutely love this! Do you have the recording sheets as well? Thanks so much! LOOOVEE your blog!
I was wondering about the recording sheets as well. I am so excited to use this in my classroom this year! 🙂
I love these! I used lit. circles when I taught high school and wanted to incorporate them on an easier level in my new 5th grade classroom- this is very helpful. Do you have the recording sheets on your TpT store? I like how they match the description sheets and would want them as a set.
Thanks!
Delia 🙂