Kate DiCamillo has written four great books about Mercy Watson. We have been exploring Mercy Watson to the Rescue. In this part of the unit, students will have a chance to read and share her other Mercy Watson books!
One way to expose students to these books is to place them in heterogeneous small groups of 3, 4, or 5. You will Want to be sure each group has some strogner readers and maybe some readers that are still developing.
Each group can rotate through the ogther three books. As they read a chapter, have each individual student write down one GOOD discussion question to go with that chapter.
This will mean that students will need a minilesson about waht makes a good discussion questions. Here are some ideas you may want to include:
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More than a yes or no answer
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Make a text to self connection
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State an opinion
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Make a text to text connection
You may choose to have students record their questions in a group journal for assesment purposes.
After each student has a question, allow the groups time to discuss the questions.
One option would be to have students read a chapter one day, and assign a question idea for homework. The next day, the group can begin with the discussion before they read the next chapter. This will allow students reflection time to come up with good questions.
After each group has finished one book, they can move on to the next.
Studens may want to choose their group's best questions to share with the class!
