# Literature Circles Launch Kit (Grades 5–12)

Ten instructional sections across 21 US Letter pages, including cover and two organizers, with teacher organization guidance, reusable student forms, and color process illustrations. Larger color illustrations and completed photographic organizer samples appear in print as well as online. Sample notes use the included Aesop retelling, with paragraph references and matching text transcripts in the online view. The original kit draws on the four planning/role PDFs in the sibling reference folder, without reproducing their content or artwork.

- `literature-circles-launch-kit.pdf`: print-ready, 21 pages: cover + 10 instructional sections + two optional organizers.
- `packet.html` and `packet.css`: editable, accessible text-based source and print view.
- `index.html`: collection landing page.
- `build.py`: original authoring content and static-page generator (Python standard library).

Run `python3 build.py` to regenerate HTML/CSS. Render `packet.html` with headless Chrome using `--print-to-pdf=literature-circles-launch-kit.pdf --no-pdf-header-footer`. Use US Letter, 100% scale, and no browser headers/footers. Recheck page count and layout after edits. The cover credits Miguel Guhlin · mguhlin.org, mguhlin@tcea.org, and blog.tcea.org. Kit section numbers remain 1–10; sections may span more than one PDF page.

Optional Appendix A/B can be copied per student; `student-organizers.pdf` provides these four pages alone. After rendering the full PDF, extract its final four pages to rebuild that download. The reference is the user-supplied Copy of Notes Organizer v3 by Miguel Guhlin.

Copy teacher pp. 1–4 and 10 once, pp. 5 and 8 per group, pp. 6, 7 and 9 per student. Use the fable to practice the routines, then transfer them to the class reading.

TEKS checked September 16, 2026: https://tea.texas.gov/laws-and-rules/texas-administrative-code/19-tac-chapter-110 (Subchapters A, B, C). High school uses English I–IV course enrollment. The map connects TEKS codes to student work and teacher observations.

Public-domain example: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19994 — The Aesop for Children (1919), public domain in the USA. The included reading is an original retelling with paragraph numbers. Use the text-selection checklist and record each selected edition in the approval log.

Strategy references: https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences/view/reciprocal_teaching and https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences/view/jigsaw_method. The kit includes modeled practice, student-led discussion, and expert-group teaching routines.

Repository/site: https://github.com/mglearn/printables / https://mglearn.github.io/printables/litcircles/

© 2026 TCEA, created by Miguel Guhlin. Original kit content CC BY-NC 4.0; code MIT, consistent with ../licensing.html. The underlying public-domain fable retains that status.