Ways we are using our Reader's Notebooks!

One of my favorite parts of reading workshop is teaching students how to talk and write about their reading.  I LOVE creating charts to write about our read alouds and to help lift the level of our conversations so I am constantly modeling how to write about reading through chart-making with my students.  I always tell my students that the chart is our giant reader's notebook and during read aloud I model a variety of strategies to organize, keep track of, and deepen our thinking.  This consistent modeling helps students transfer the strategies into their own reader's notebook to write about their independent books.  To read my post I wrote a couple years ago about reader's notebooks, click here.

Below are some examples of charts created during read aloud to model a variety of writing about reading strategies:

 

Each year, I encourage students to not only try out the strategies that I model during read aloud, but to also create and try out their own strategies.  I want my students to always feel ownership over their reader's notebooks and know that it is a place for them to choose how they want to express their thinking about their reading in a way that makes sense to them and is purposeful for them.  I don't want it to feel like a chore or something they are doing just for me.  I want them to see and understand the purpose and value of writing about their reading and how it helps them grow their thinking and conversations.  Students have the choice to use pencil, different colored pens, post-its, sketches, and more.   By giving students ownership of their notebooks, they truly do use it as a tool and it is amazing to see the strategies they create and use! 

I think it is important for students to teach one another the strategies they create and use so I make time for students to share and teach one another.  Last week, during reading workshop, students had the opportunity to share a strategy they are using in their reader's notebook.   They used the document camera to share a page from their notebook to visually show the strategy and teach their classmates how and why they use it.  In addition, they share the name they chose to call the strategy if they created it - some of the strategy names are very creative! As students share strategies and explain them with an example from their notebook, I record the strategy name along with an example on a chart for the class to use as a tool.  Next to the strategy, I write down the name of students' who shared the strategy so their classmates can check out their notebooks and/or talk to them more about the strategy.  

Below are two of our class charts that were created while students shared strategies from their notebooks: 

Class chart created while students shared ways they are using their reader's notebooks

Second class chart created while students shared more ways they are using their reader's notebooks.

Below are some examples from students' reader's notebooks:

 

Students also showcase colored photocopies of pages from their reader's notebooks on one of our bulletin boards.  If they want a page photocopied, they mark the page with a post-it and put it on a table in the back of our classroom at the end of the day.  Once it is photocopied, they hang it up along with a colored label where they write their name and the name of the strategy they used.  This bulletin board not only gives students a chance to showcase their writing about reading strategies, but also serves as a teaching tool where students learn from one another! 

Reader's Notebook Bulletin Board 

Happy Writing about Reading! :)

Note-Taking Examples from Students in Nonfiction Unit: Part 2

This is the 2nd post in a series of posts about our Nonfiction Unit.  To read my first post, please click here.  

In my previous post, I shared a photo of our class bulletin board where students post note-taking examples that their classmates can use as mentors.  Below are a few close-ups of some note-taking examples that students have posted so far. These are the forms of note-taking that students chose to use while reading their text during independent reading or while actively listening during read aloud.  I taught and modeled various note-taking strategies and we have practiced how to choose a form of note-taking that best organizes the information.  We learned that note-taking is a tool and that we need to choose the best tool to match the text we are reading, just like we choose a hammer to put a nail into a wall or a staple remover to remove a staple in papers.  

As students use different forms of note-taking, they are posting them on our bulletin board and sharing their reasoning behind using the form they chose.  They are learning from one another and using each other as mentors - such powerful learning! You will notice that students use colored pencils while they take notes - this not only gives them the ability to color-code, but also inspires them to take notes and write in their notebooks!  They use colored pencils throughout their reader's notebook, not just for note-taking in our nonfiction unit, but throughout all units and all sections of their reader's notebook. 

This student chose to use a flow-chart to show the Problems/Solutions in their text

This student chose to create organized boxes to jot down information about her topic

This student chose to use a T-Chart to clearly show the differences between Dolphins and Sharks as we read Shark or Dolphin? by Melissa Stewart 

This student chose to draw the life cycle of a penguin as he read about the sequence in his text

Happy Note-Taking! :)

Reading Partnerships

During our first unit of study in reading workshop, we are learning strategies active readers use to increase stamina, engagement, and comprehension.   Here is a chart listing some of my mini-lesson teaching points during this unit:  

Part of being an active reader, is having conversations about our reading with others and writing about our reading to prepare for conversations.  To ensure we make time for these important conversations, we dedicate the last 10 minutes of reading workshop to partner conversations on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  On Tuesday and Thursdays, we write in our reader's notebook for the last 10 minutes of reading workshop.  This schedule not only ensures that students are given time to do this important work as readers, but also makes sure there is a balance between talking and writing about reading.  

Before students wrote down three possible classmates on an index card they thought would be a good reading partner for them, we talked about the purpose of a reading partner and identified qualities of a good reading partner.  

         

I work hard to always make the purpose clear to students about what I am asking them to do as learners so they understand the "why?" behind everything we do in our classroom.  I also think it is important for students to see the connection between their writing about reading and their partner conversations.  When students gather for a partner conversation, it is expected they will refer to their book and reader's notebook during the conversation and use them as tools to help them have a thoughtful conversation.  

I am a firm believer that students need to be explicitly taught how to have successful partner conversations, need to have conversations modeled for them, and need opportunities to share what they noticed about the conversations they watched.  In my classroom, we refer to these modeled conversations as "fishbowl conversations".  The partnership modeling the conversation sits in the middle of the circle on the rug and the rest of us actively observe by watching and listening in to the conversation by making a large circle around them.   I let students know that I will be asking them, "What did you notice?" when I pause the conversation, so they need to be ready to respond and share their noticings.  This is also a great way for them to learn from one another and also honor their hard work as learners.  

I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas about reading partnerships and ways you model conversations with your students.  

Giving Students Opportunities to Share their Thinking and Strategies

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on  Involving Students in Creating Bulletin Boards . I want to update you on some new ways my students are sharing their thinking with their classmates and how they are learning from one another.  About a month ago, we started our social issues book club unit and the students wanted to create their own book club bulletin board.  Each book club boxed off a square on the bulletin board using yarn and are posting their thinking, parts of their conversations, and strategies they are using while participating in their book club. 

Our Book Club Bulletin Board

In my morning message to students, I invite them to read their classmates thinking on the book club bulletin board and be ready to honor a book club's thinking/strategy at morning meeting. I also give students time each week to reflect on what they are currently doing well in their book club and which strategy they saw on the bulletin board that they will try out.  These opportunities teach students how to be reflective but also teach them that they can all learn from one another.  In my eyes, we have 26 teachers in the classroom, not one or two. 

Some of my students also expressed interest a couple weeks ago about creating their own foam board bulletin boards to showcase and share the great strategies they are using in their reader’s notebooks.  Of course, I jumped on this interest and went to Michaels to purchase many foam boards and ‘fancy’ colorful paper with designs too.  I gave the students the supplies and handed the ownership over to them.  They created a plan for their layout and how they wanted to use the board.  Then they went into their reader’s notebooks to reflect on which strategies and entries/charts they wanted to share.  I was completely impressed and proud of their collaboration using the boards and the finished products are amazing. One group created "mock reader's notebooks" on their foam board with copies of charts/entries inside them! (photo below)

Foam board students created to share ways they are using their Reader's Notebooks

Once this group of students shared their foam board with the class, the excitement and interest spread so I found myself making another trip to Michaels for more supplies, but was thrilled to do it!  I love to see students have that spark in their eyes when they light up doing something they love and are proud of their accomplishments and hard work.  It is so important to provide students with opportunities to share their thinking and hard work with others.  This sharing helps give a sense of purpose for why they are doing it.  When students have a sense of purpose, their motivation increases, and a higher level of learning occurs. 

I’d love to hear about ways students in your class or school share their thinking and work with others. 

Writing about Reading - Reader's Notebooks

When I was in elementary school, I remember the dreaded workbooks that we used for reading.  I hated answering the comprehension questions and I tried writing anything for the answer so I could just get it over with and go out to recess...but my teacher always caught on and I then missed recess to re-do my answers.  I realize now that I disliked the reading questions so much because I didn't understand "why" I had to do it and didn't know "how" it helped me as a reader.  It also was very boring!

As a teacher, I make a point of always explaining the purpose of why we do certain tasks and units of study so students know "why" they are doing it and "how" it can help them as learners and people.  So when I decided to use reader's notebooks in class almost 10 years ago, I made the promise to myself that I would make the purpose clear and encourage students to have fun with their notebooks!

Personalized Reader's Notebook

I am a firm believer that having conversations and writing about reading increases comprehension.   When we give students the opportunity to write about their reading, they are able to try out the strategies in a written form which allows them to process the information and reflect.  Writing about reading can take many forms from writing on post-its to writing in reader's notebooks This is also another form of data to use to informally assess each student and see what skills we still need to teach and reinforce and what skills students have internalized.
  

Students need a consistent amount of time they can depend on to write in their reader’s notebook, but we want to make sure it is not taking up their reading time; we want them to read more than they write during reading workshop.  One way to provide students with a predictable and consistent amount of time is to make certain days of the week "writing days" at the end of reading workshop.  For example, in our classroom, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are “talk days” when they have conversations with their reading partner and Tuesdays and Thursdays are "writing days" when they write about their reading at the end of reading workshop. They write for about ten minutes and if they don't finish in class, they can continue working on it for homework.  This way, students know they will have the chance to write every Tuesday and Thursday and it becomes a classroom ritual without taking up reading time during reading workshop.  

Reader's notebooks are not just a place for students to write paragraph responses, but also to be creative in how they express and deepen their thinking. Some students create charts in the form of baseball fields, flowers, staircases, basketballs, etc.  For example, I have had baseball fans draw a baseball field to show how they have extended their thinking by writing their original idea on 1st base, revised thinking on 2nd and 3rd bases, and their final thinking on home plate.  While others have drawn a flower with their theory in the center of the flower and their evidence/thinking on the petals.  The list goes on with the creative ways students have used their notebooks to deepen their thinking in visual ways in their notebooks.  Once students are given the permission to be creative, they jump on the opportunity and impress me each year with their originality and how they visually show others how they extend their thinking to higher levels.  This is where the reader's notebook bulletin boards or foam boards come in handy, because students can share  examples of how they are using their notebooks with their classmates.  Then the buzz of reader's notebooks comes alive; students become engaged in writing about reading because they understand the purpose and make it their own.  

It is important to give students specific feedback on their writing about reading.  That way, students know they are writing for a purpose, and they give us more insight into what they are thinking as readers. I collect their reader’s notebooks as often as I can to leave my feedback in the back of their notebooks on post-its.  I also read their responses/charts whenever I can during the school day.   Students enjoy the positive reinforcement and they become increasingly willing to try new strategies!

Reader's Notebook Examples:

                                                            

                                                             

Happy Reading & Writing! :)

Power of Read Aloud Part 2

Reader's Notebook Bulletin Boards and Foam Boards:

I give students the ownership of deciding how they would like to organize and deepen their thinking about texts in their reader’s notebook.  Of course, I model various strategies to use throughout the year so students can choose from the ones I have modeled or create their own way of responding to texts.  I have a bulletin board in the classroom all year titled “Ways We are Using our Reader’s Notebooks” so students can not only share the strategies they are using with their classmates, but they can also learn from their classmates.  The students make the copies of charts and/or responses and post them on the bulletin board along with a card that has their name and the name of the strategy they used (students name the strategy themselves if we haven’t already decided on a name as a class). 

I also use foam boards (a strategy I learned from Ann Marie Corgill and Franki Sibberson years ago) to display student examples of how they are using their reader’s notebook and examples of charts/responses students can use as a model.  Last year, I had a group of students create a foam board displaying how they can create a “Quote Web” by choosing one important quote from the text to write in the center and then branch out from the quote with their thinking about it.  This was one strategy they shared with their classmates to show the importance of quotes and how they can deepen your thinking about the characters and the book as a whole. 

Celebrating and Sharing Reader's Notebooks through Gallery Walks:

Another way to honor students’ thinking in their reader’s notebooks and learn from one another is to have Reader’s Notebook Gallery Walks once a month.  For this learning celebration, students put their reader’s notebook on top of their table along with either a piece of paper labeled “Comments” or a stack of post-its for classmates to use to write comments.  Students can either mark certain pages in their notebook that they want their classmates to read or can flag an entire section such as the Read Aloud section.  Students walk around the classroom, sitting down to read their classmates’ notebooks and leaving positive comments about the strategies they are using.  After being able to have students view about 4 or 5 classmates’ notebooks, we gather as a whole class to share and honor the strategies they saw their classmates using.  This share honors students, encourages them to reflect, and helps them set goals for themselves for which strategies they can try using in their reader’s notebook. 

Happy Reading & Writing! :)

The Power of Read Aloud Part 1

One of my strongest passions as a teacher is read aloud.  To me, read aloud is the heart of literacy in the classroom and empowers students as critical thinkers about books. It not only teaches students important reading skills to be life-long readers, but also strengthens partner and whole class conversations as well as writing about reading. 
I am going to be posting a series of posts about read aloud for the next couple days so stay tuned for more!  Some of the topics I will post about are:  Read Aloud Charts, Whole Class Conversations, Reader's Notebooks, and much more. 

Part 1:

Read Aloud Timeline 

We have a read aloud bulletin board in our classroom where we create a timeline of our read aloud covers to help us make connections across texts throughout the school year.  The visual of seeing the covers helps students spark memories of their thinking so they can make meaningful connections and notice patterns across the texts during our units of study in reading workshop. 

 

Personalizing Readers Notebooks and Creating Sections

During read aloud, students are engaged through turning and talking to their reading partners, stopping and jotting in their readers notebooks, and adding their thinking to our class charts.  I am a firm believer that students put in more effort and are invested when they feel a sense of ownership as learners in the classroom.  To create a sense of ownership in my students, I have them personally decorate their reader’s notebooks with titles, authors, book covers, thinking stems, quotes, etc.  By personalizing their reader’s notebooks like they decorate their writer’s notebooks, I find that they are more apt to take pride in the charts and responses they develop about their texts and read alouds.  In addition to personalizing the outside of the notebook, they also create sections within the notebook.  All students have three sections with tabs labeled: Read Aloud, Independent Reading, and Reflections.  In addition to these three sections, students can decide if they want to create other sections such as a section to collect quotes, titles of books to read next, or a strategy section.  These sections not only help with organization, but also teach students how to reflect on themselves as readers and create a purpose for writing about their reading.