A literature circle is a teaching strategy that empowers students with the choice of what they read

and how they read it while teaching students the habits of skilled readers. Use this lesson plan to
implement literature circles in your classroom.

Description
This lesson plan will help students become more proficient independent readers through the use of
the literature circle strategy.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson students will be able to:

 describe the plot, characters, and thematic content of a novel with classmates
 summarize sections or plotlines of a novel
 support student-generated ideas by citing evidence from a novel
 connect ideas or events in a novel to relevant topics and ideas
 create illustrations to illuminate reading passages

Length
Literature circles will take 15-30 minutes a day for 2-4 weeks.

Curriculum Standards
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text.

 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide
a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the
characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
Objective
In the objectives section of your lesson plan, write precise and delineated
goals for what you want your students to be able to accomplish after the
lesson is completed. Here is an example: Let's say that you are writing
a lesson plan on nutrition. For this unit plan, your objective for the
lesson is for students to name a few food groups, identify the food
groups, and learn about the food pyramid. Your goal should be specific
and use numbers where appropriate. This will help you determine if you
met your objectives or not after the lesson is over.

What to Ask Yourself

In order to define your lesson's objectives, consider asking yourself the
following questions:

 What will students accomplish during this lesson?

 To what specific level (i.e. 75% accuracy) will the students perform
a given task in order for the lesson to be considered satisfactorily
accomplished?
 Exactly how will the students show that they understood and
learned the goals of your lesson? Will this occur through a
worksheet, group work, presentation, illustration, etc?

Additionally, you will want to make sure that the lesson's objective fits in
with your district and state educational standards for your grade level.
By thinking clearly and thoroughly about the goals of your lesson, you
will ensure that you are making the most of your teaching time.

Examples
Here are a few examples of what an objective would look like in your
lesson plan.

 After reading the book "Life in the Rainforest," sharing a class

discussion, and drawing plants and animals, students will be able
to place six specific characteristics into a Venn diagram of the
similarities and differences of plants and animals, with 100%
accuracy.
 While learning about nutrition, students will keep a food journal,
create a balanced meal using the food pyramid (or food plate, as it
is now called), write a recipe for a healthy snack, as well as name all
of the food groups and the foods that correlate with them.
 While learning about the local government, the goal of this lesson
is to have students identify the components of local government
and be able to generate four to six sentences using local
government facts and vocabulary.
 While students learn about the pattern of digestion, by the end of
the lesson they will know how to physically point out areas of the
digestive track, as well as tell specific facts about how the food we
eat can turn into the fuel that our bodies need.