Sunday, March 3, 2013

How I Keep Reading Response Journals Simple!

One of the major changes to my reading curriculum this year has been adding reading response journals.

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We waited a few weeks to get our reading response notebooks set up because I was still deciding what I wanted. I ended up just keeping them super-simple-  using 2 sections, split by one tab.

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When students open their composition book, they have a genre guide glued in the front. I got this resource from Laura Candler, but needed to adjust so that it would fit in the composition books. I changed the font, too (because I’m a font snob :) but you can pick up a copy of her Genre Chart for free here.

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On the other side, we created a reading log. Instead of gluing it in, each student grabbed a ruler and followed directions to copy mine. It worked out pretty well, and now my students know how to create a new page whenever they need it.

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You can see that my kids add the genre code, date started, title/ author, date finished, and the rating (1 to 5 stars). I love the rating piece- it allows me to see at a glance what books a student has loved or hated to give book recommendations! (It makes me feel like the Book Whisperer and I love it.)

My students have 15 pages before the Post-It tab that I helped each of them place. They stick in and not one has come off yet. This tab is where the reading responses start for my kids. I require that they write the title on the left and date on the right. Some are still forgetting the date, but overall, most do well with it.

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I tell my kids that their response needs to focus on THEIR thinking. Some of my kids will write lengthy summaries, but I tell them if I wanted to know what happened in the book, I’d go read it. This is THEIR reader’s notebook, and I want to read mostly THEIR thoughts! I know a lot of people like to use this for practicing how to write a summary, and that’s fine, but I felt like my kids needed to focus on giving me more than just a retell of the story. It forces them to think deeper!

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Most weeks, my students check the Weekly Must Do’s board to see what they need to complete during the (Daily 5-ish*) Reading Rounds of that week.

Usually, students are required to do one free response (where they choose the book and the topic of their response) and one structured response (where the class answers a specific question, usually about a book I’ve read aloud or we have all read together).

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At the beginning of the year, I did frequent modeling (including having to sound out some words!). A couple of months into the year, I had students help me make a list of possible topics to write about, and we’ve posted it in the classroom for guidance.

When students have finished their responses from the week, they turn them in to my purple basket. I try to grade a few a night, but lately I’ve just taken the basket home on the weekends.

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I respond back and forth to the students, and give them a grade, usually based on completion, following the format, and if they included at least 3 of their own thoughts while reading. This semester, I’ve started writing the grade in the notebook for feedback along with my written responses to them.

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When I respond, I try to treat it as a conversation about books, with maybe a reminder here or there. I want them to feel like we’re just chatting as readers.

With almost every student, I’ve seen amazing growth in their abilities to write about their reading. Here is a response from the beginning of the year.

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Here is a response from that same student recently.

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And from one of my ESL students? His first response:

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(I like Some Dogs Are Very Good because is a bad dog.) I can tell you- at the time, I was jumping up and down at this response because it showed such comprehension of the book. But NOW?

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(Yes [I will tell my mom about the Cat and the Hat], because my mom will be so, so mad of us. I think that she will say that I’m not going somewhere before I catch that cat.)

Amazing, right? And as my class goes into the open-ended response part of our state tests (this week), I feel like our reading notebooks are probably the best thing we’ve done to prepare for the tests, too- in part because they’ve gotten practice writing and giving evidence from the text, but in part because it’s just made them stronger readers!

February 2013

Do you have a reading notebook? I’m definitely going to be tweaking mine next year, so I’d love to hear what you do differently!

P.S.- I gave my blog a makeover last night- just playing around with it- and I. Love. It. Let me know if anything’s broken, and check out my new blogroll! :) If you’ve posted recently, you just might be on it!

*The Daily 5 idea and concept belong to “The Sisters” Joan Boushey and Gail Moser.

26 comments:

  1. This is such a wonderful post! Thanks for sharing such great ideas and I LOVED pictures of how much your students have grown!! I was just mulling over how I would jazz up reading responses next year and this has helped so much :) :)

    ~Stephanie
    3rd Grade Thoughts

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  2. I just started reading response notebooks this year and they are definitely something I'll continue. I love the genre list and reading log in the front. I had students glue theirs in the back this year and need to tweak that for next. Thanks for all of the great pictures!
    Katie
    I Want to be a Super Teacher

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  3. Hi Jenny! I was excited to find your post. I teach first grade and started Daily 5 this year. Next year, I am moving to second grade. I saw you used to teach 2nd. How would you change your reading journals for 2nd graders?

    Thanks,
    Crystal
    Teaching Little Miracles

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    1. I use a 3 ring binder. It has 2 sections; 1 for anchor charts (for easy access) and 1 for response entries. I have a handful of styles of paper for kids to choose from and each day during centers 4-6 kids write a response based either on our work earlier in the day or (at this point in the year) retelling, identifying important parts, etc. I found so many great resources on TPT.

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  4. What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing.

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  5. Hi! Great post. I am a first year teacher and was so thankful to find your "I got the job...now what?!" series. I did have question about the response journals. Do students just complete the reading responses during one of the rounds of their choice? How early in the year do you start them? Thanks!

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  6. I love this approach to Reading Notebooks! Am going to give it a try in the new year! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. This is fabulous! I've struggled with readers response notebooks this year and this is so helpful going back for the 2nd half of the year! What different types of responses do you teach them?? 😊 I am curious and always trying to improve!!

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  8. Awesome idea! I was planning on beginning Reader's Response in our Reader's Notebooks, inspired by Aimee Buckner. I think I will begin with 2 responses a week during our Daily Time. Your before and after entries are inspiring!

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  9. This is wonderful. I looked on Laura Candler's site, but she doesn't provide the completed chart....:(.

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    1. I believe you can download it here: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2009/11/readers-notebook?page=2

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  10. I love the ideas here, but I also couldn't find the completed genre chart on Laura Candler's site :(

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    1. So glad you like them! Sorry about that- it must have been taken down. I believe you can still download a copy here: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2009/11/readers-notebook?page=2

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  11. Thank you for posting this. I started daily 5ish too. I felt like a hot mess the first part of the year. Next year I want to focus on student accountability. I felt like my students were starting to play in the centers.

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    1. That was so hard for me, too! We spent so long on building our stamina, which helped so much with the "playing." I also felt like their journals helped me keep an eye on how much they were really reading and getting done. Here's a post I wrote about their accountability in Daily 5, in case it helps: http://luckeyfrogslilypad.blogspot.com/2013/07/keeping-students-accountable-in-daily-5.html Good luck! :) Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  12. Did you have a rubric for grading the response notebooks? This article will be very helpful next year. Thanks

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    1. I kept it very simple- 1 point for completion, 1 point for the correct format (with title and date), and 3 points for each of the three thoughts they had while reading. By the end of the year, I graded out of 8 points- 1 for completion, 1 for format, 3 for their original thoughts, and 3 for more detail about each one (either text evidence, a reason why, or how it helped them understand the book). Hope that helps! :) Thanks for stopping by!

      Jenny

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    2. I like the rubric= simple.
      We (my partner teacher & I) last year had students write letters to us about what they were reading. We felt like they were writing the same things over and over. This year we want to focus on what they are thinking while reading. What are your responses that you have them write about?

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  13. What are your responses that you have them write about?

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    1. Usually, students are required to do one free response (where they choose the book and the topic of their response- but it somehow needs to show their thinking about the book) and one structured response (where the class answers a specific question, usually about a book I’ve read aloud or we have all read together). They really vary quite a bit. We did brainstorm possible responses together on an anchor chart, but I encourage them to just write about what they're thinking as they read for the free responses.

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    2. Thanks you for your response. I appreciate it. I was curious as to how you get them started in their free responses. Do you provide sentence starters/stems? I want to know how you get the students to the point where they actually know how to choose the topic of their response? Does that come later after much modeling and chances for them to develop a knowledge of the different topics they could write about?

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  14. Thanks you for your response. I appreciate it. I was curious as to how you get them started in their free responses. Do you provide sentence starters/stems? I want to know how you get the students to the point where they actually know how to choose the topic of their response? Does that come later after much modeling and chances for them to develop a knowledge of the different topics they could write about?

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  15. THANK YOU for such a great, informative blog post. I have never used reading response journals before, and want to start after fall break. I am apprehensive about how to go about using them in my classroom, but your post gave me a lot of great info - and now I feel like this is something I can pull off. :)

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  16. Thank you for this post. I am a 6th grade teacher, but definitely see the value in this. I am trying to get away from the basic 5 simple comprehension questions on A.R. and have my students think deeper. I also think I will have them practice siting evidence as they read.
    Thank you!

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  17. Thank you so much for this very informative post. I have taught grades K, 1, and 2, and this past year was my first year teaching 3rd grade. I love it! I tried reader's notebooks with my 3rd graders in the form of 3-ring binders, and I found they took up quite a bit of space. This year, I plan to switch to using composition books, and they can be stored in their book bins. I like your approach of having the reading log in front and having the majority of the pages be for their responses to reading. I am going to try that this year with my new group of 3rd graders. Thank you so much for this post. I'm looking forward to trying your approach this coming school year!

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