Topic: Making good book choices

Standards: ELACC2RL10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Essential Question: How do readers make the best book choices for themselves?

Duration: about 1 hour

Materials: anchor chart-Way We Choose Books

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson: Students learn how to make the best independent book choices for themselves.

Mini Lesson: Yesterday we learned what thoughtful readers do, so today we are going to talk about how a thoughtful reader chooses a good book. Hold up some books-some that look fun and interesting, and some that aren’t as nice to look at. Ask students to think about how they choose books and which of these books they might choose and why. Turn and talk. Then share some ideas. Start to make an anchor chart for Ways We Choose Books: inviting cover, interesting title, pictures/illustrations, familiar characters, familiar author, friend recommendation, topic we enjoy. As you write each idea on the chart, hold up the example books that fit the category to show students why we might choose that book over another. Show students your classroom library and how it is organized. Ask students to think about how they might approach your classroom library to find a book that they would like. Turn and talk; share some ideas. Model how you would go the shelf and think aloud while making a good book choice.

Guided Practice: Allow a few students to practice/model and discuss.

Independent Practice: Send students to their seats to read. Call a group over at a time to make a good book choice from your classroom library. Discuss with individual students while they do this.

Closing: Review ways we choose books, and have students share which criteria they used today to choose their books.