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Permalink Reply by Dr. Lynnda M. Nadien on March 29, 2012 at 11:49am

At my building we created a 'Novel Ties' Committee to ensure novels read in grades 3, 4 and 5 were completed as a 'whole' and not in parts. This was a strategic move, because we realized some teachers may not feel comfortable teaching reading via the novel approach. We also wanted to create purposeful unit plans for each novel, and avoid 'choppy' instructional practices.

We have seen great success now using the novels and the children are highly engaged using the materials. A good suggestion to getting started is to have each grade level select 1-2 novels they believe are relevant/interesting to the grade and work on developing higher order questions based on the novel content. Allow the children the opportunity to dialogue and discuss key elements of the novel and prepare a strong "PRE" novel day to gain excitement and interest! Don't limit your questions to the '5'W's' instead work on 'thinking' questions to build cognition and allow for shared inquiry amongst the children as they read the novels. This can be done at all levels and will especially benefit upper elementary readers, middle school readers and high school readers. As per the common core, allow for choice within the novels, which basically means, let the students have a voice as to what is selected. Try to align the use of the novels with your existing curriculum in ELA and perhaps work to integrate other core subject areas. This is working for us!