Fifth grade centers

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Fifth grade centers
By Teresa

How lucky you are! I have about 6 book genre centers in my room. The kids love them and they are learning and practicing reading strategies. I put about a dozen paperback books (some are from bookclubs, some from the trade
book sets that came with the basal, some are yard sale finds) in a crate and a "one size fits all" sheet for the kids to fill out before and after reading. For example, for a set of biographies, q's on the sheet include "What do you already know about this person?", "What can you tell by looking at the pictures?" Then after reading "I was really surprised when___ ", "I couldn't believe___",

etc. Then I have the kids give their opinion of the book on a post-it to stick right on the book cover to advise others to read or not read it and why. I include forms for making anticipation guides, tables of contents, indexes, and other graphic organiser-type things for nonfiction and various think-aloud and response sheets for fiction. This has been one of my most successful strategies all year.