I have a couple questions... First, I have been using reading logs with my 2nd graders, but my friend told me something KAthy Collins had said at the MRA conference, and I want to step mine up a bit. Apparently she did two different things. 1. Attach HWK with the reading log. Monday: read 15 min, then draw the tiem you started and finsihed. Tuesday: read 15 min. then discuss the changes in spring that we notice (as talked about in class)... This is not what I am looking for. 2. For each day they read they have a specific reading task, for example (I think, this is where I need your help!) Mon. read 15 min and discuss/draw the setting of one story you read. Tues. read 15 min. and make a connection to one of the characters. ... THis is more what I am looking for. Does anyone have anything like this/heard her speak about this? Any other ideas? Basically, they keep doing this week after week and grow accustomed to on Monday I will read and discuss setting... Second, I want to write something at the bottom of each reading log, an expression, inspirational quote, etc about reading. I have "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."-Joseph Addison. Anyone have others? THANKS!!!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea! I teach third and immediately called my friend who teaches fourth to tell her about your great idea! We're totally going to steal and tweak! Some additional ideas we talked about were drawing a character, writing a list of 10 adjectives to describe an aspect of the reading (character, setting, etc), having them creat an acrostic about the character or setting that tells about them, having them write 1 paragraph reviews of what they read and be able to post them in the room each morning, perhaps letting them write their reviews on sticky notes and post on chart paper under "recommend" and "don't recommend". Hope these help as much as you inspired us!
Thanks, ladies. You've definitely got my wheels turning. I've tried using reading logs for the past two years. I've tried weekly, monthly, and ongoing. It either becomes too much paperwork or the focus turns to returning the signed log and shifts away from the reading. I am going to work on this method (or a variation of it) and I'll post with my ideas. Thanks!
I don't know if anyone was interested, but I just found a bunch of quotes. These are the ones I like: A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. ~Author Unknown If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. ~Thomas Helm You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. ~Paul Sweeney TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Author Unknown When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than was there before. ~Clifton Fadiman Nothing is worth reading that does not require an alert mind. ~Charles Dudley Warner To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke A house without books is like a room without windows. ~Heinrich Mann Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710 To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one. ~Chinese Saying No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. ~Mary Wortley Montagu “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Seuss quotes Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Margaret Fuller If you read a lot of books you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you're not considered well viewed.” Lily Tomlin “Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” Charles Scribner, Jr. “Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” Charles Scribner, Jr. “When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” Enrique Jardiel Poncela "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." — Jorge Luis Borges "So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall." — Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald "There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." — Jacqueline Kennedy Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words!" — A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943 "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." — Walt Disney
I used the reading log activity ideas to create a list of morning work ideas for students to do while I do attendance and lunch count. I always need 15 minutes of meaningful activity that is self-driven so thank you! I think I'll just create signs to display the directions for students to begin on their own every morning. I might just give them a lst of my 17 activities and let them select their own. Maybe I'll tell them they have to select a different one every day. They can only repeat after each week ends. I think giving them choices is better.
Zoe, I really like the idea of making a list of morning work self starters with the reading log. I think I may do something similar. Thanks for posting the idea!
These are great ideas! We do a reading journal during our independent reading (literacy block), but I love the journal idea. It incorporates writing as well as reading. With 5th grade, I would love to know more ideas I could use-especially in the morning. Does anyone use book pods? (baskets of books on the table in the a.m.?) I would love to do that with the journal idea. Please, keep the ideas coming! I am busy jotting them down. Some ideas I have used in my reading journals: -write a letter to a character asking questions you have about the book -write down important quotes from the story that helped you make sense of what you were reading -pick 5 vocabulary words that you do not know, look them up and illustrate the word to help you remember -connections (mentioned above) -create a book review (slip I got from a website-will try to remember which site and post it here) BethMI-thanks for starting this post!
Yay! I was really excited about them. I'm such a dork!! I really like the one about TV entertaining them with 2 letters, what if they use all 26...
I posted this another day to a reading log question but this is what worked for me. ____________________ my kids in second grade used to read one chapter book a week, then fill out a log for it. They had a choice of about 12 different questions to answer for their reading. It worked very well. If they forgot their log, they had to stay in and read with me at recess. No one likes to do that. We called it the Reading Challenge. The questions were something like this 1. name your favorite part and tell why you liked it 2. List all the characters and who you like the most 3. Or list the character that is most like you. 4. List three words that you learned or that were new words to read, and copy the sentences from the book. 5. Tell me the setting and why it was important to the story 6. Compare the story to another story that you know 7. copy dialogue from the book with the correct punctuation 8. who do you know that would like this book and why? 9. tell me three clues from the story (mystery) 10. illustrate your favorite part the kids liked this, the parents liked it, and I was able to guide the students to reading chapter books that were appropriate for their level. It was very successful for me for the last few years. I also liked it because they were doing more meaningful reading, not just some here and some there. They also had to list three other things that they read that week, for example an email, a magazine, the weather etc
OK so while I haven't fully developed the idea, what I've realized is this: -My kids will read and respond each night -The responding they do will correspond to what we're studying in class. Thus, if we're working on making connections, their reading log will require them to read for 20 min and list 3 connections. -Others will be reading and asking questions of the author, or making predictions. I'll provide sheet where they record this and hand it in. -If we are in the midst of a lit. circle unit, that might replace the reading log for that time period. This seems like such a "DUH." Thanks for making me take some time to thinK about it.
