hink about why you're setting up the Group. This will help you to know which children to choose/aim it at, what books to read and how to plan for the sessions.

It is unlikely that you will have any resistance from anyone when you set up a group/s. The children, even if they are reluctant readers at the outset, will come to see it as a highlight of their week!

Some things to think about:

Support

Support from the senior management team will help, although it is possible to run a group/s without a whole school commitment.

Who?

Who will run the group will depend on who is available, which will vary from school to school. Ideally it is someone who really enjoys reading themselves and who will be available for the whole duration of the group. This would apply to teachers or teaching assistants.

You may decide to target reluctant readers (boys, girls or both), particularly keen readers or another specific group. It is important that the children are of a similar reading ability or children will become frustrated.

Identifying potential barriers

There will always be things that crop up which will threaten the smooth running of the group (e.g. meetings, sports events, trips). It is important to brainstorm these at the outset and have strategies in place to be flexible around them. Without doing this it can be disheartening, and often difficult to make alternative arrangements.

Time

It is often easier to decide on a fixed length of time for the group, to allow for ease of organisation and future flexibility e.g a term/ a year. Once a week works well.

Organisation

The more you can fix at the outset (dates, time, venue, people) the less on-going organisation there will be.

Venue

Find a venue (e.g. school library, classroom, designated room etc)

When?

Decide a regular time (½ – ¾ of an hour) at a time of day which is convenient. Lunch times are often easier than after school and it is important that it is not instead of another lesson.

Choice of books

Agree the choice of books (e.g. using the suggested lists on the tales on moon lane website: talesonmoonlane.co.uk /children's literature websites). It is worth thinking really carefully about the choice of books. The children need to be able to read them independently (i.e. slightly lower level than that read during Guided Reading), and they need to be attractive and engaging.

Buying books

The best option is to use current guided reading sets, or if the budget allows buy new guided reading sets. This will ensure that your library is kept up to date and that children are reading new books, which is always highly motivational!

Facilitating the group

As the group facilitator read the book quite carefully (often easier to read it twice!), and prepare some key questions to stimulate discussion. Post-it noting key pages can be really helpful.

You and/or the children could spend some time reading around the book (eg. interviews with the author from the web; recent reviews; other books by the same author)

During the session try not to talk too much yourself! Encourage dialogue.

Format of the session

A reading group is different to a guided reading session as it probably will not involve direct "teaching".

If the children are not taking the books away with them , a significant part of the session will be the children reading. This will probably take one of two forms: you reading to them while they follow in their own book (particularly good when getting into a book) or the children reading on their own. At this point if the space allows it is great to be able to let them make themselves comfortable: sitting, lying, in their own space. Discussion of what they've read will also be important in order to share responses. Hotseating of key characters and other drama techniques can obviously be fantastic to stimulating responses too.

If the children are taking the books away with them, you need to consider whether you will ask children to read set amounts before meeting again. It is much harder to manage if they are all at different stages of the book when you meet for the group, but it is still possible to have discussions/read different sections and to discuss the text.

A reading group will increase children's enjoyment of reading, their self esteem, as well as developing their skills as readers and writers. Making it a priority is worth it. You'll be amazed!!

Key Questions

What are your initial responses? (likes, dislikes) Why? How quickly did you read it? Could you put it down? Did you think you'd enjoy it? Were you surprised?

Synopsis:

What happened? What was the most exciting part? What was the problem? How was it resolved?

Structure:

How was the book structured? What patterns did you notice? Was the pace fast/slow? How was this created? Were there chapters? What was the effect of this?

Themes and Issues?

What themes/issues did the book raise? How were they approached? Did the book/author hold a message? Can we learn anything from it?

Characters:

Did you believe in the characters? Which? Why? How were they developed? Did they surprise you at any point? Could you/the children relate to any of them? How did they change/develop as the story unfolded? Which character did you like best/least? Why?

Style:

What particular stylistic devices struck you? (e.g. effective descriptive passages; techniques used to draw the reader in; particularly effective images; sentence structures which are effective e.g. repetition etc)

Were there any words/phrases/images/sentences/passages which were particularly effective? Which? Why?

Application:

How would you use the book with the class?

What extended writing opportunities could the book stimulate? What drama activities would support this?

Links:

What other books did this remind you of? Why?

Which other books by this author have you read? Recommend? Comparisons?

General:

Anything else? What questions haven't we asked yet that you would like to discuss? Final thoughts?