4th Advance Subject Group in Reading

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Here is an sampling from a letter that went home with fourth grade students in ASGR.

Our fourth grade Advanced Subject Group in Reading has been working with introductory materials from Junior Great Books (JGB).

JGB materials provide clear lessons to help students more deeply discuss and understand a text. JGB also provides concrete behavioral expectations for participants in these discussions – sometimes called seminars. See blog from 10/10/14 to see 'do's and don'ts list)

Tally marks on the participation maps indicate students sharing comments about our work – based on open-ended questioning. A higher number of tally marks does NOT necessarily mean a higher grade or more meaningful role in our discussion. Tally marks just show participation. I also include arrows noted with “a” or “d” which means an agreement or disagreement. Both are valuable parts of our work.


This introductory work is an important foundation for our work with literature throughout the year. Our continued focus will continue to be short stories and novels. 

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