Introduction
Do you have your students form literature circles, book clubs, or novel study groups? Are they meeting frequently to discuss the books they are reading? Are you looking for ways to help guide students in discussing what they’re reading? Ultimately, wanting students to engage in meaningful conversations without straying too much off topic.
Have you tried using discussion cards with your fourth, fifth, or sixth grade class? They are great to help guide your students’ conversations and to help assist your students in focusing on responding to what they are reading.
Discussion cards provide questions for students to discuss so they don’t have to come up with their own questions! In this blog post, I am using a question-and-answer format to talk about how to use discussion cards in the fourth, fifth, or sixth grade classroom to help promote conversation!
Types of Discussion Cards
Q: What are fiction discussion cards?
A: They are cards that students can use with a partner, group, or whole class. These cards have discussion questions for fiction books. Students can use these cards with the fiction text they are reading.
Q: What are nonfiction discussion cards?
A: They are cards that students can use with a partner, group, or whole class. Use nonfiction cards with nonfiction text.
Q: What are biography discussion cards?
A: They are cards that students can use with a partner, group, or whole class. Use biography cards with biographies or autobiographies. These cards ask questions that are geared toward people and their lives.
Q: What are mystery discussion cards?
A: Use with pairs of students, groups of students, or with the whole class. Use mystery cards with mystery books. These cards specifically ask questions about the information in books that are true to mysteries.
How To Use Discussion Cards…
Q: How do I use them?
A: There are many ways to use these cards, here are some ways (1) Use them with the whole class during and after reading a whole class novel study. Guide students in discussing what’s happening in the book during reading. After reading, use it to help recap events in the book.
(2) They are also great for use in small groups with your guided reading group. Or perhaps you have students grouped in book clubs, literature circles, or novel study groups. In guided reading, use discussion cards with reading comprehension. In book clubs, literature circles, or novel studies, students can use them to assist in facilitating discussions. To read how to use fiction discussion cards with novel studies read my blog post “Why Use Novel Studies”.
Digital Cards
Q: Can I use discussion cards digitally?
A: Yes, they can be used digitally. I have created fiction, nonfiction, and mystery discussion card products that all have discussion slides. In these products, I have created Google Slides that can be presented to the class or groups to aid students in meaningful conversations about what they are reading or have read. Displaying Google slides in presentation mode is perfect for whole class discussions as well as small groups!
Why Discussion Cards?
Q: Why would I use them?
A: They can be used to promote authentic discussion amongst your students! The questions on the cards, help students understand what they are reading because they are discussing the text naturally and students can help one another. This helps to give the assignment a feel of a book club or literature circle because questions are discussed verbally instead of being written down.
They can be used in lieu of question packets. I prefer discussion cards over packets! In my experience, when students are given question packets they are just focusing on finding the answers to questions instead of enjoying reading. I have seen students become so consumed with searching for answers to complete the packet that they are not genuinely reading the book. When doing this readers are not reading the text fluently and the storyline can be quickly lost.
Examples Of Discussion Questions…
Q: What are some fiction discussion questions?
A: Some fiction discussion questions are…
-Name the main character and supporting characters. Describe them
-How does the main character change over the course of the story?
-How does the setting contribute to the plot?
Q: What are nonfiction discussion questions?
A: Some nonfiction discussion questions are…
-What is the main idea of the text?
-Name two facts you learned from the text?
-What did you learn about this topic?
Q: What are biography discussion questions?
A: Some biography discussion questions are…
-When and where was the person born?
-Tell three facts about them?
-What accomplishments did they achieve over their lifetime?
Q: What are some mystery discussion questions?
A: Some mystery discussion questions are…
-What is the mystery in the book you are reading?
-In a mystery, why is having an alibi important?
-Who is the detective? Is it just one person or more than one person?
Conclusion
Using discussion cards in your fourth, fifth, or sixth grade classroom can help get the conversation going about books in your class! Try it, in whole class, in small groups, or with book clubs, novel studies, or literature circles. Help guide your students’ conversations to stay on topic when discussing books by using discussion cards. Here is the link to my fiction discussion cards product and nonfiction discussion cards product for purchase in my TPT store. Here is the link to my free mystery discussion cards product in my TPT store.
