How to begin nonfiction reading groups

I started off our first session by asking the children to brainstorm categories of reading.  I told them to think of as many ways to put books into groups.  I initially allotted about twenty minutes for this part of the lesson and to my amazement; it took an hour.  The children were a buzz and were coming up with one idea after another.  They were excited and engaged and rose to the occasion by stretching their minds to think of as many collections as possible.  Listed below are the initial categories they children came up with.  (there are more- this is just a sample of the list)

The children would also add to the list.  They would go straight to our list and add categories even before telling me, which was so exciting.  Loosely modeled after the leveled article, the next day I allowed the children to group themselves.  Looking at the categories we created together, I asked the kids to select three different groups they were interested in; three different groups they loved and wanted to learn even more about.  I then asked them to write the word wish below the three groups they had just selected. I then asked them to write one group they wish to be a part of because they did not know much about this category and were interested in learning more.  After the kids wrote their choices down, I had them group themselves.  I asked them to walk around the room and find friends who had similar interests.  Again, I was surprised with how smoothly this went.  The kids moved around the room with ease discussing what they loved and wanted to read.  From that day our first groups were formed.  We had a sports group, a scary book group, an ocean group and a reptile group. We immediately went to the library and checked out as many books as possible for each group.  Then we went through our classroom library and pulled as many books that were applicable to each group.  The kids had buy in like I had never witnessed, and I know it was because they were in charge of their own learning.  They were reading what they wanted to read.  Shortly after forming our groups, I overheard a student saying, “This is like our very own little book club.”  I just giggled to myself as my heart filled with excitement of what the future held for my students and their reading experiences.  To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from that day forward.  I was unsure of what our groups would look like or how they would even work.  All I knew, was my students were thrilled and eager to begin reading and that was something I had not seen during leveled literature circle groups.  When I switched reading to interest groups versus literature circles, my students did not ask one time about their other books.  Most groups were at least half way through the book they were reading in their group.  What this tells me is that what we were doing was not meaningful and there were little connections to what was being read.  They were reading out of obligation because I asked them to.  Believe me, second graders do not let you forget anything they deem important or they enjoy.

Each and every day I was impressed and astonished with what was occurring during reading groups.  My kids were reading and were genuinely excited to read.   In changing my reading instruction and how I grouped children, I hoped for several outcomes.  I hoped for meaningful and rich experiences, home to school connections, quality discussions, excitement about reading, a focus on material versus levels and an authentic reading community.  My students have gained far more than I ever could have ever anticipated. 

Here are some pictures of the children working in their nonfiction reading groups.

Upon completion of studying mummies, she built a sarcophagus for each type of salt to mummify apples

Building a volcano to errupt after studying volcanoes.

Studying bottlenose dophins and orca whales



They measured out the actual length of each whale and cut butcher paper to show the size and included their reports.

Studying reptiles together