Reader's Notebooks & *FREEBIE*

I've been thinking about school already! I have seen so many wonderful posts from all of you about the projects you're working on, and I guess you've inspired me. I'm starting with rethinking my Reader's Notebooks.

If you haven't checked out the awesome resources on Reader's Notebooks from Beth Newingham, where have you been?! But seriously, her post about notebooks is incredible {check it out here}. I use  some of her handouts for my kiddos' notebooks.

I use binders for my Reader's Notebooks, as I like to keep all of their handouts in one spot. Here's what I'm thinking for this year:

• Tab 1: Reading Logs

Ah, my nemesis. The reading log. I have tried SOOOO many formats, and still have yet to find one that I love. Ultimately, I want my kiddos to keep track of the books they're reading by level, genre, title & author. I'd also like to keep track of how much they're reading during our independent reading each day. And I want a place to keep track of their conferring goals from our 1:1 conferences. I made this one a few days ago, and still am not loving it, but it's a start and it's a *FREEBIE* for you to try too. Click the image to download the editable version. I've listed the thinking strategies on the bottom as a reminder. I'm thinking about making a separate organizer for conference notes and goals for their notebooks as well, maybe to include in the next section...

• Tab 2: Goals & Data

Such as people who set New Year's resolutions, I tend to forget about revisiting and tracking the progress of our reading goals. One {ahem} goal I have this year is to be better about this for my kiddos! Ideally, I'd like to revisit our goals every 4-6 weeks. Some things I'm going to include here are their DRA scores (to be done once per quarter), Guided Reading level progress chart, standards for each unit as a checklist or I Can statements, and an organizer for conferring goals and notes.

• Tab 3: Mini-Lessons

This section starts with a table of contents I use from Beth Newingham that we add to as we go.

In the beginning of the year, handouts include topics such as choosing a Just Right book and the genre overview {also from Beth}. 

• Tab 4: Word Work

I'm planning another post soon all about word work. This section will hold their weekly spelling pattern work, the Nifty 50 Thrifty, commonly misspelled words, and a mini-word wall. Still wrapping my head around word work for next year, so I'll keep you up to date!

And here's what I'm thinking for responding to reading. Last year this was also housed in their binders, but I hated it. This year I'll have their responses kept in a composition notebook. This is something I'm still trying to work out, but here are some thoughts I have so far. {BTW, how FUN are those mustache sticky notes!?} How do you manage your readers' responses? I'm open to any and all suggestions!