Sitting in small groups of about six students, Alicia Tackmann’s sixth-grade class at Glenville-Emmons Elementary School on Tuesday dove into novels written by famous author Roald Dahl.

Each student, assigned a role in reviewing the book, took turns explaining what he or she had learned from their reading.

One student summarized; another looked for challenging words. A third looked for connections between what was in the book and what happens in the outside world, while a fourth wrote questions about the part of the book that they read. The fifth person drew a picture related to what was read, and the sixth person spotlighted interesting things in the text.

One student also doubled up as the discussion director, who helped move along the discussion.

Called literature circles, the groupwork allows the students to interact with each other while fulfilling different roles in the reading process. One day, a student gets to practice his or her vocabulary, while the next day he or she gets to practice summarizing. Every student reads, and then they all listen to what their peers have learned.

Tackmann said she learned about literature circles in her student teaching and decided to implement it into her class this year. This is the first year the sixth-graders at the school have tried it, and she noted she thinks it makes reading more exciting for them.

The circles also give students the opportunity to dig deeper into the books than they might have otherwise, she said.

They get 3 1/2 weeks to read and discuss each book with their group members, and then after reading it, they have a week to come up with a final project that they will present to the rest of the class.

Then they switch to a new book and do it all over again.

Projects could include posters, skits or commercials, to name a few of the ideas.

The teacher said all the groups read different books at the same time, but the books usually have something in common, whether that’s the same author or the same theme.

On Tuesday, the different groups read “Danny the Champion of the World,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “The BFG” and “Matilda.”

Harley Osberg, who was part of the group that was reading “Danny The Champion of the World” on Tuesday, said the literature circles have helped her with her dictionary skills. She’s also enjoyed seeing connections from the story to what’s happening in her own life.

Faith Newton, who was also part of the group, said some of the roles in the circle are more difficult than others.

But by rotating through them, it gives the students the chance to develop all their skills.

“They like it a lot better,” Tackmann said.

The Glenville-Emmons class has 25 students in it.