Book Club is going very well!

[mom31257]

I started a book club for ds's age group, and it's going well. I wanted to share what I've been doing in case anyone else needs ideas. If anyone has any detailed questions, I'd be glad to share what I've done thus far.

 

It is for 3rd-6th grade. I chose books that have been made into any kind of film. The kids read the book at home, then we get together to discuss the book and for me to teach them some beginning literary analysis and literary devices. We watch the movie and discuss the differences.

 

Here are the books we're doing this year.

 

Charlotte's Web

The Cricket in Times Square & Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

The Tale of Despereaux

The Incredible Journey

The Railway Children

The Secret Garden

[PeacefulChaos]

I never thought of having a book club! What a great idea!

How did you work it all out and plan it all? Did you have people who you already knew would be interested?

I want to hear all about it now lol... :)

[Alte Veste Academy]

We're doing a family book club right now but we'd love to take part in a group one day. I wonder how you format the meetings.

 

I think choosing books with movie adaptations will provide interesting fodder for discussions. After being ridiculously disappointed in the movie versions of The Little Princess and A Secret Garden, I think DD may very well refuse to watch any more movies because they botch up her favorite books and "get everything wrong!" :lol:

[mom31257]

I gave it a try last year with two close friends. This year I offered it through my homeschool support group. We were going to meet in a member's home, but after the first meeting, which had 2 families absent, we realized it wasn't big enough. We are meeting in that member's church.

 

The first book club meeting we held a "book fair". The kids made projects about a book they had read over the summer. If they were willing, we allowed the kids to speak about their projects.

 

I begin with just a general "how did you like the book" type of questioning, asking favorite parts, characters, etc. Then I begin asking questions in order to teach them an aspect of literary analysis. I went through Teaching the Classics last year as well as reading Deconstructing Penguins. Both have been immensely helpful. The first time I discussed plot and identifying the climax of a story. I also discussed foreshadowing. The second book club meeting I discussed characters (protagonist/antagonist), types of conflict, and setting. For the next meeting I know I want to discuss theme and personification, but I haven't read the book yet, so there could be others.

 

After our discussion, we watch the movie. We then discuss the differences, and I always ask if they like the book or movie better. It's almost unanimous for the book. We're also going to try and include something fun to go along with the book. This past time we ate food that was mentioned in the book (Chinese food, Strawberry Sodas, and Lorna Doone cookies).