Reading logs. Similar to saying, "I'll wait", or assigning a back-to-school essay about how students spent their summer, reading logs are a classroom
Do you want to keep track of your child's (or your own) reading habits? Use these free reading log printables and set up a lifelong habit of reading!
I have always assigned nightly reading. Why? I don't assign nightly reading because I want to give students "reading homework." I don't assign nightly reading
Read about these fun activities for kids at home that they will LOVE! Also included are 5 FREE resources to go along with some of these activities!
Use a reading log to boost comprehension strategies in the classroom will allow students to respond to reading to be a focused and active reader.
Fantastic free LEGO printables for science, math, STEM, and building challenges. These LEGO sheets are perfect for the classroom or home.
Free Download Printable Blank Reading Log Template PDF , Reading Tracker Template , school reading log template Our Reading Log Templates are FREE to use and are available as PDF
Today is the first day I'm linking up with Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday! I'm thinking there should be some sort of formula used by school districts: x number of school related pins = x number of recertification points! haha Wouldn't that be nice? I think I'd be set for the rest of my teaching career! I wanted to start out with a cute little back to school idea I used last year and plan on using again this year. I had these little treats hidden in a cabinet and during a restroom break on the first day I had my aid pull them out as a surprise. This worked great because I was able to give the kiddos a welcome treat and everyone had a snack on the first day! I just ran across this beautiful idea yesterday and I know I'll be doing this next year. I've never been very good at posting the books we read as a class because I don't know where to put them, so this looks like the perfect solution to my problem! Source: room-mom101.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest Source: allsewnup.com via Courtney on Pinterest Source: sparklinginthirdgrade.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest And because I cannot get a break between these two pictures for the life of me I'll just write about the last pin here! :) I'm planning on doing a major revamp of my reading homework this year and I found this great sheet for FREE! I definitely have in mind doing something like this where students respond more to what they read.
A reading log perfect for homework, that allows your student to record details from their nightly reading. The log is for 4 nights. Monday they focus on the big idea of the reading. Tuesday they focus on the language of the discipline. Wednesday they focus on unanswered questions. Thursday they...
What is independent reading? Independent reading is where students are encouraged to choose their own reading material (fiction books, non-fiction, magazine, other media) for their pure enjoyment. This is an essential component in my opinion in building reading literacy. It allows students to be exposed to various topics of choice and increases fluency rates, vocabulary and various reading skills. There are
Want to know how to ensure at-home reading accountability without using reading logs for elementary students? Read this blog post to learn how I got rid of reading logs and implemented status of the class instead to instill a love of reading and support students in their daily reading habits both at
We as teachers know that reading at home is crucial to becoming a better reader.If you’re like me, you have used one of these. I used a reading log like this for years and didn’t think twice about it. However, I did think it was interesting that most of my students read exactly 30 minutes […]
Hello Everyone! I have had many second grade teachers contact me about our home reading log and parent/child questions to accompany reading. Reading at home is a huge component in reading success. I have shared our first grade log before, but I went ahead and added a second grade component to this little packet. We require our first graders to read at least ten minutes every evening. I included a note to parents about second graders reading twenty minutes. Take a peek! If you would like your own free printable reading pack click HERE!!! :) Thanks for stopping by for a peek!! If you are one of my students, grab a book! Grab a book NOW!! :) Joyfully! Nancy
I have always assigned nightly reading. Why? I don't assign nightly reading because I want to give students "reading homework." I don't assign nightly reading
Our Reading Bingo Game is filled with fun ways to read, and it's great for all ages! To play, simply set a goal at the top and list
Today’s Wednesday, and that means it’s one day closer to being break for me. And for the rest of you, only three more days ’til the weekend! Today’s post offers you another …
What reading strategies do students need to know? Find out here and keep track with a free chart!
A learning log is a specialized type of journal. Unlike journals, students record responses to the material they are learning.
Learn my top tips for using interactive notebooks in your classroom. Download your free interactive, foldable resource, This Book POPS!
This is a culmination of my own anchor charts, plus the best anchor charts that I could find online. This is a great place to find effective charts that get to the heart of what you are teaching in workshop. If you have a favorite chart that you'd like to add, please contact me! Also, if I have not properly given credit for an anchor chart, let me know so that I can fix it.
Perfect 25 Day Reading Challenge for Kids, kids reading activities, free printables reading challenge, Fun Book Ideas, Reading is important, Kids Books, reading challenges, reading groups, book clubs and more. Encourage and Motivate Kids to Read, Bookish Challenges
Summertime for teachers is sacred!! It can be very frustrating when someone who is not a teacher, gives me a hard time about having the summer off!!! After all, teachers have an extremely tough job, that while VERY rewarding, can also be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Besides, don’t most of us actually work during…
Planning your guided literacy time is bout to get so much easier. I get asked a lot about how to tie reading and writing together, while focusing on fluency, comprehension, phonics, vocabulary, writing, etc. I create this resource to get kids excited about reading and writing, and to make planning
After finding my love for reading again this year, I was inspired by the many TBR games on social media, like Bookopoly.
Scaffold instruction and support writing skills using sentence starters for
Cultivate lifelong reading skills.
I LOVE making charts! Step into my classroom and you’ll probably say, “Wow, someone has too much time!” but to be honest, I don’t! I just love them so much and love the w…
Your success depends on your self-development. Here's a list of my top favorites and best personal development books everyone should read.
Graphic organizers are an excellent tool for helping your students think about their reading. This amazing set of fiction reading response graphic organizers is designed to support a wide range of readers. Filled with story elements, story maps, plot, setting, vocabulary, summary graphic organizers, and so much more! This resource is filled with over 100 unique and fun graphic organizers, that will engage students and get them thinking about their reading. Each one is created for a variety of skills and strategies—you are sure to find precisely what you need! Use these fiction graphic organizers with any fiction book or story that you already teach in your classroom. This will quickly become one of your favorite go-to resources for your reading class. Just take a peak at the preview to find out even more! Skills and Strategies Included: Character Setting Character Traits Character Analysis Dynamic Character Compare/Contrast Characters Compare/Contrast Settings Plot Asking Questions Problem and Solution Making Inferences Visualization Making Predictions Genres such as fables, fairy tales, folktales, legends, and myths Theme Sequence Vocabulary Story Plot Mountain Story Elements Retell Summarizing Vocabulary Story Structure Character's Point of View Author's Viewpoint 1st and 3rd Person Point of View Analyzing Illustrations Mood Comparing Book to Movie Reading Responses Reasons you need these in your upper elementary classroom: Provides a range of graphic organizers specifically tailored to explore story elements as well as many other fiction reading skills and strategies. Enables students to delve deeper into the text, enhancing their understanding. Engage your students actively in the reading process. Allows students to analyze and reflect on the story. Encourage critical thinking. Promotes deeper comprehension. Enhances overall reading engagement. Look what teachers have said! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Absolutely brilliant product! Such hard work, time and thought has gone into creating such lovely resources, thank you." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"I absolutely love this resource. It is probably one of the best and most practical items I've ever purchased. There are so many great graphic organizers to choose from. I use them all the time in my reading instruction!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"I love having these resources as a part of encouraging my students to enjoy reading!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"This resource has a graphic organizer for everything! I was looking for one which tracked multiple events in a story. It's there! I have also used the story mountain organizer. The best part is that they are not story-specific, so I can reuse them." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"I have used this graphic organizer bundle in both 3rd and 4th grade! My students love these and I use them for small group station rotation centers. I make a packet of the different graphic organizers and students choose which graphic organizer they would like to complete and do so at their independent reading station using their independent reading book. Making a packet allows for student choice and using these graphic organizers hold my students accountable for their reading. I love this resource and will use it for years to come!" Use these in ✔️small groups ✔️literature circles ✔️centers ✔️book clubs ✔️independent reading ✔️or whole group. Use these with ✔️chapter books ✔️picture books ✔️reading series ✔️stories ✔️poems ✔️plays/dramas ✔️read alouds Kindly note: This resource is a non-editable pdf.
“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.”
You will notice on our blog that my students use amazing learning tools called Thoughtful Logs. Many of you have emailed asking for more information about Thoughtful Logs - what they are, how to use them, etc. I figured I'd just post the information here with pictures to help answer your questions. Here we go! Where The Idea Came From: Our district had several elementary teachers pilot Linda Dorn and Carla Soffos' Comprehensive Literacy Model this past two years with the help of a literacy coach (Mrs. Candice Johnson), and I was one of the lucky pilot teachers that got coached. Thoughtful Logs are a key tool in the Comprehensive Literacy Model, but really anyone can use them in his or her classroom! They are so, so powerful. Making A Thoughtful Log: The Thoughtful Log can be any kind of notebook or even a folder that has paper held into it using brads. We use composition books because they're sturdy and feel extra special compared to a regular notebook. Some teachers in our district plan to use a five-subject notebook. Regardless of what is used, on the cover we have a label that says "My Thoughtful Log - Ideas, Thoughts, and Learning Worth Remembering In Reading & Writing". So just as the label says, the Thoughtful Log is a tool used in both reading and writing. It helps to connect all subjects really: Dividing the Thoughtful Log Using Tabs : In the intermediate grades, we divide the Thoughtful Log into 5 sections using sticky tabs. Here are the tabs and the kinds of things that would be added to each tab as the year goes on. (In the picture below, you only see 4 tabs. We have decided to add a 5th tab called 'My Strategies' this coming year.): *Tab 1 - My Strategies: In this tab, students store learning about the comprehension strategies: questioning, making connections, visualizing, inferring, determining importance, and synthesizing. I highly recommend the book Comprehension Connections: Bridges To Strategic Reading by Tanny McGregor to help you teach the strategies. What's great about this book is that you use concrete, real life items in the lessons that help give kids a clear picture for what each strategy is and means. The book was a suggestion I got from another blog teacher friend, Amanda Nickerson. (You have to check out her blog. It's AMAZING!) I bought the book thinking, "Oh geez, this is going to be another book that I probably won't read..." but when I got it, it was short, sweet, and to the point, and I loved the idea of using my purse and the items in it to teach determining importance, or nesting dolls to teach synthesizing. I found my kids were the MOST engaged when I taught strategy lessons from McGregor's book, and to be honest, I was the MOST excited to teach them: a win-win situation! For example, our 4th quarter reading strategy focus is Determining Importance. I was able to use my purse to help teach this strategy. We created this anchor chart on what items in my purse were important, kind of important, or not very important if I were going to the gym to run on the treadmill after school: Then I set up a similar situation for students to practice determining importance themselves in their My Strategies tab. Students had to determine what was important and not important to bring on a camping trip: Here is a sample entry from that activity: I also had students discuss their thoughts with a partner after they had written and then had them write about the similarities and differences. *Tab 2: Author's Craft: In this tab, we put anything that has to do with the special things authors and writers do to make text and language extra special. Author study information and lessons about figurative language, alliteration, irony, similes and metaphors, personification, etc. all can go in this tab. Students are taught to add examples as they find them in their own reading experiences of the different authors' crafts we have learned. It doesn't matter if we learned about alliteration 4 months ago, students know that if they find an example during independent reading, they should write it down on that page in their Thoughtful Logs so they can show their teacher that they can identify those crafts independently in text. For another example, you can see I had students record the definition of a simile at the top of their page in the Author's Craft section during our lesson. During independent reading, students recorded examples of similes they found in their books: During a different lesson on similes and metaphors, I had students glue in a small sheet in the Author's Craft section that restated our lesson objective and a picture of the mentor text we used that day. Then students recorded examples of similes and metaphors they found in books I had put around the room (that I knew had similes and metaphors in them!): *Tab 3: Powerful Words & Phrases: Learning from lessons that discuss any kind of powerful words and/or phrases can go in this tab. This is a great spot to store information from lessons about word choice or other 'delicious language', in addition to lessons about common and proper nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc. Sometimes I will even have kids open to their Powerful Words & Phrases section and have them record any words they hear me read from our text that they consider powerful. We share out at the end of the book, or turn and talk to a neighbor and record/add 2 words to their page that a partner has written. For example, I read the mentor text Clara Caterpillar for a mini-lesson on word choice. I asked students to record in the Powerful Words & Phrases section any words they heard that they they felt were powerful (which is why many of the words are spelled wrong on the top half of the Thoughtful Log page below since he wrote them from a verbal cue only.) You can see the student also recorded more powerful words on the bottom half of the page during independent reading. These are words he found on his own in his chapter book that he wanted to store to possibly use later in his own writing: Always encourage students to use words from their Powerful Words & Phrases tab in the stories they write in Writer's Workshop. "You must use 3 words from your PW & P tab in your next story. Put a smiley face next to your 3 words in your story so I know which extra-special words you used to make your writing more powerful!" Just an idea... :) Here's a sample entry from work we did with verbs and adverbs. I printed and cut the whole-group lesson we did on the SmartBoard from the day before and had students glue it into their Powerful Words & Phrases tab first. Then they looked through their own texts for examples of powerful verbs and adverbs: *Tab 4: Genre Learning: In this tab we store any learning about different genres of reading and writing. In our district, each grade level has a quarterly reading genre and writing genre. So, in fourth grade in reading, I teach non-fiction/informational text, historical fiction, biography, and poetry. In writing, our genres are non-fiction report, summary writing, response to literature, and poetry. All of our learning and thinking about the reading and writing genres goes in the Genre Learning tab. Here's an example of some the learning and thinking recorded during our Biography unit that was recorded in the Genre Learning tab. Students were to write about each of the characteristics of a biography as it related to the biography book they were reading independently: When we learned about the Historical Fiction genre, I taught students that it's important to gather the facts about a historical time period before reading a historical fiction book set during the time period. Doing so helps to deepen our understanding of the book itself. I had students visit some interactive sites to learn more about the Underground Railroad to gather information prior to reading a historical fiction book that took place during times of slavery and segregation. Students recorded their facts in their Genre Learning tab of their Thoughtful Log: Tab 5: My Thoughts: This final tab kind of allows you the freedom to put 'anything else' that may not fit in another tab. Obviously, if students ever needed to write a response about what they thought about something (in guided reading or during any other time), it could go in this tab. My students learn to track their thinking on post-its using letter codes as they read, then provide a written response later after independently reading. Students glue down the one or two post-its that they think inspire their deepest inner-voice thoughts and respond in writing in their My Thoughts section next to the post-it: My students also do Literature Discussion Groups (LDGs) and one of the requirements is for them to write a response to their assigned reading in their My Thoughts tab so they are prepared for their LDG. Here are some examples of student LDG entries that were written in the My Thoughts section. (We did a lot of practicing together of how to write a good entry, and I always made students fill out a self-assessment slip to help them evaluate their entries and push them to grow.): You can see the students in the LDG group below have their My Thoughts section open in front of them (to the page where they wrote their entry about the reading assignment due that day). I have students reread their entries to themselves just before they begin discussing to help them get in the right frame of mind and remind them of the thoughts they had about the text: Trusting Your Gut: Really, there are no right or wrong answers when using Thoughtful Logs. Trust your gut as to which tab your lesson's objective and learning should go. Sometimes I will even ask students, "Today I'm going to be teaching you about great ways to start your sentences. Under which tab should we store this information?" A great class discussion can follow where students apply what they know about each tab to evaluate the best place, and then students are given ownership in their learning before anything is even taught! Anchoring Learning: You probably noticed in the pictures above that I have students anchor our lesson objectives/learning in their Thoughtful Logs in a few different ways. It really depends on the lesson and how you want to manage it! Way 1: Sometimes I type up a small half-sheet of the essential learning objectives for a lesson, pre-cut the sheets to fit their Thoughtful Logs, and then have students glue or tape the sheet in the appropriate section of their Thoughtful Logs prior to the lesson. Then I will have students bring their Thoughtful Logs and a pencil to the carpet during our lesson so we can add learning to the sheet they glued into their Thoughtful Logs. Here's an example of a a half-sheet I prepared ahead of time and students glued into their Thoughtful Log just before our lesson. You can see this student added to his chart throughout our lesson: Way 2: Sometimes I type up a half-sheet of the lesson objective but won't hand the sheet out to students to glue/tape into their Thoughtful Logs until AFTER the lesson when students are back at their desks. Here's the lesson we did together first on Making Connections (no Thoughtful Logs yet): And after the lesson, students glued the Making Connections half-sheet I had pre-made with the lesson objectives into their Thoughtful Logs. Then they worked on their response during guided practice and independent reading. Way 3: Sometimes we'll do a whole group lesson (without Thoughtful Logs), and as a class we'll record our new learning together on a large piece of chart paper or use the SmartBoard. Then at prep time or the end of the day, I will take a picture of the anchor chart of our learning that we created together, upload the picture to my computer, and then print and cut a class set of the anchor chart. Then the next day, I have students glue the picture of our chart into the appropriate section of their Thoughtful Logs. This chart has meaning because students got to co-construct the anchor chart the day before, and it matches the larger anchor chart hanging in our classroom. You can see I took a picture of the biography anchor chart we created the day before and had students glue the picture into their Thoughtful Log the next day. (I know you already saw these two examples earlier when I described what to put in each tab, but I wanted to give you visuals so you can understand as much as possible!) And here I printed the SmartBoard lesson we had created the day before and had students glue that in the next day: It's important to have learning objectives glued/taped/added to students' Thoughtful Logs so that students can always go back to and refer to their learning throughout the year. I was amazed at how much more carry-over there was throughout the year of things we had learned earlier in the year because students had access to everything they had learned in reading and writing right at their fingertips. Also, when students do independent reading and writing, they have the 'helper charts' anchored right in front of them to help them remember the skill or strategy they should be practicing. Written Responses: Once learning is anchored (glued or written down in the Thoughtful Log), you can have students do a variety of both guided and independent written responses to the lesson objective/learning to help you assess students' thoughts, in addition to their application of the literacy objectives you are teaching. I'm hoping you saw several examples of students' written responses and application in the pictures provided above. Assessment & Other Benefits: - Thoughtful Logs are great tools for tracking student progress, to inform your instruction for lessons, to use for assessment at report card time, and to use as evidence at parent-teacher conferences. - Teachable moments occur more often because you can quickly turn to a previous lesson in a student's Thoughtful Log to provide a visual to jog his or her memory about something previously learned. Connections to previous learning can happen that much faster! - Parents can stay up-to-date with the kinds of things you're teaching, the language you are using, and the thinking their child is doing because it's all in one place. - The next year's teacher can look through a student's Thoughtful Log from the year before to see exactly how you organized and taught students to do different things. The next year's teacher can build off of what and how you taught the year before so student learning is maximized. A Literacy Scrapbook:My students really came to treasure their Thoughtful Logs. In no other way had they (or I as a teacher) had a collection of all they've learned to do in reading and writing. I think for so many years I was used to teaching something one day, and then *poof* it was gone. Students can remember a lot more of what they have learned if they have a resource like a Thoughtful Log to store all the skills and strategies they have learned. It's like a reference book! One last note: I had a carpeted area where I had students join me for whole-group lessons in reading and writing, but you don't necessarily need one. I liked the carpeted area because it was like a sacred place where we knew we'd all learn together in a guided setting, then when students returned to their desks, they knew it was independent practice time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------I hope this helped a little bit! Please don't hesitate to ask questions to clarify anything that may still be foggy for you. Also let me know if you decide to use Thoughtful Logs, and how they're working for you! I'm always eager for new ideas to use in our classroom. The above descriptions are just how I use Thoughtful Logs, but the possibilities are endless! - Leanne :) [email protected]
Learn my top tips for using interactive notebooks in your classroom. Download your free interactive, foldable resource, This Book POPS!
Hello everyone! We were back at school today after yet another day off for rotten weather. It sure is hard to have any continuity when we are gone a day or more out of every week! Our next big unit in reading involves historical fiction book clubs. Getting fourth graders to have meaningful book discussions […]
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In today's post, I'll explain the differences between shared reading and a readaloud!
We are very excited to share our Must Read Mentor Text with you today! About two weeks ago we were contacted by Vincent Mastro, the au...
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