Reading Ladder Book Clubs
How do the book clubs work?
What are Reading Ladders?
According to Butterfly.com, a Reading Ladder is defined as: "the steps of reading progress starting from easy moving to progressively difficult,". The purpose behind reading ladders is to slowly increase a readers reading level.
Starting the Reading Ladders
In order to start up the reading ladders, it is important to first establish the genres that your class will be working with. Our example reading ladder contains the genres of: Fantasy, Dystopian, Romance, Poetry and Verse, Historical Fiction, and lastly Memoir and Autobiography. All of the novels we selected have a range of topics to give students more opportunities to explore topics they feel interested in or passionate about.
How do students pick the books?
1) When creating the genres, ensure that the number of spaces is limited per group to ensure that all the groups have students participating.
2) Before the start of class, write the genres on the board or have them up on a google doc with the allotted number of spaces in each group.
3) Introduce the book club concept to students and ask them to pick their top three genres.
4) Create a fair and equal method such as a random name generator for students to pick their desired book clubs.
5) Once groups have been created, bring the students to the library to receive the reading ladders and books from the librarian.
6) The librarian and the teacher will distribute the reading ladders and visit each group to ask the to pick two books. (One with a higher Lexile level, and one lower).
7) The librarian and the teacher while visiting the groups will also distribute any content warnings to the groups.
8) Students will choose the books they would like and collect them from the teacher and the librarian.
9) Once students have their books, they will devise a reading plan to complete the book within the timeline given by the teacher. (For an example: one book in two weeks, making a total unit plan of four weeks).
