Junior Great Books K–5

Junior Great Books® programs combine high-quality literature, student-centered discussion, and activities that support reading comprehension, critical thinking, speaking and listening, and writing. We provide outstanding classroom materials with both digital and print options and inspiring professional development. We help students get the most out of reading and interacting with their teachers and classmates, while providing online and in-person instruction and support in Shared Inquiry™, our method of learning that gives teachers the approach they need to help their students succeed.

AngelaBrito
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“I think Junior Great Books is an important component of a balanced literacy program because it really incorporates the reading, writing, speaking, and listening components that are at the heart of balanced literacy. Kids are really driving the process. They’re driving the discussions. . . . Their thinking is at the heart of it.”

Angela Brito
Blaine Elementary School
Chicago, IL

For more than 50 years, schools that integrate Junior Great Books materials and our inquiry-based approach to learning into their curriculum have been helping their students become independent readers and thinkers while enhancing the instructional skills of their teachers.

  • Balancing literary and informational texts
  • Building knowledge in the disciplines
  • Providing a staircase of text complexity
  • Requiring text-based answers
  • Focusing on evidence in writing
  • Expanding vocabulary

Junior Great Books Program Features

In Junior Great Books programs, students’ critical thinking develops through careful reading, attentive listening, thoughtful speaking, and purposeful writing.

LearningObjectives

Critical Thinking

Students explore problems of meaning by:

Generating ideas
Giving evidence
Responding to each other

Reading

Students:

  • Read aloud fluently
  • Annotate a text
  • Interpret word meaning
  • Recall facts and cite details
  • Generate ideas about meaning
  • Infer, evaluate, and revise ideas
  • Find evidence to support ideas

Writing

Students:

  • Routinely write notes and questions
  • Organize, develop, and support ideas
  • Edit and revise writing with peer review
  • Use different writing forms for different purposes

Speaking and Listening

Students:

  • Share questions
  • Express and clarify ideas
  • Explain and support ideas
  • Listen and respond to others’ opinions
  • Recall ideas and evidence heard in discussion

Research-Based Learning with Fiction and Nonfiction

Trained Over

Teachers

Impacted Over

Students

More Than

Schools Have Used Our Materials/Training

The Great Books Foundation has over 50 years of experience imparting key principles and practices of inquiry-based teaching. Our Shared Inquiry method has been used in thousands of classrooms across the country and around the world. Our programs are currently in use in countries worldwide, including Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. No other organization or company has more history or expertise at making inquiry-based teaching and learning succeed than the Great Books Foundation.

Our inquiry-based programs have been recognized as effective by the US Department of Education, and independent research has shown that regular, sustained use of Shared Inquiry improves reading comprehension, writing, and critical thinking for students from a wide range of demographic backgrounds and achievement levels.

High-Quality Literature

Junior Great Books programs feature outstanding literature by award-winning authors. Stories are selected for their vivid writing and for their ability to support multiple interpretations and thought-provoking discussions, as well as for their diversity of settings, genres, and writing styles.

Langston Hughes Award Winning Author

Langston Hughes, author of “Thank You, M’am”

Customize Your Approach

Our materials help your students develop the critical thinking, close-reading, and analytical skills they need to be college and career ready. Our questioning and discussion techniques help teachers become better discussion leaders.

If your teachers and students are not sure how to integrate inquiry-based teaching and learning into their daily routines, we can help you identify the key problem areas for your students and teachers. No matter what curriculum, literacy program, or textbook you’re using, we’ll work with you to develop a customized approach that integrates our products and/or professional learning into your classroom routines. Please contact us to schedule a time when we can meet and start developing the approach that works best for you.