The Idea Behind the Comprehension Notebook (Work in Progress)

I know I've been sharing a lot of behind the scenes lately.  It helps me when I write down my thoughts and to bounce ideas around.  It also helps when others give me feedback... especially if they know it's NOT going to work!! :)

For years I've used a composition book to record vocabulary and reading strategies inside.  Last year I added a section for themes (one theme per page).  We recorded the titles of our stories on the different pages, and our reasoning why we stuck it there.  This year we are switching to using novels to teach the strategies... something that I started doing this past year as well with our Read Aloud Wall.

Right now I have a bunch of post it notes stuck inside the book.  The first section will have genres, one per page.  I picked up Blair Turner's Genre Add On Cards and printed them off tiny like to add to the corner of the pages.  We will do the same thing like themes last year and add titles and reasoning.

With the strategy section I have my own graphic organizers (again printed multi pages per sheet) to add to the description pages.  These worked great last year as a ready reference when kids were tasked to write their own examples.

Behind these 3 sections (Themes, Genres, and Strategies), I have spaced out post it notes every 5 pages for each novel that we tackle throughout the year.  5 pages, 10 sides... plenty of room to have a single strategy per side, to which we can add examples as we go through the books.  Last year I had the strategy posters on the Read Aloud wall that my class added to, this time they will also be in their notebooks.  We will be able to tie up the strategy practice using those Reading Exit Slips to show comprehension with a quick assessment. 

 

Like I mentioned yesterday, the vocabulary and comparing chapters have been taken out of the notebook and will be kept in file folders for each specific novel. 

It feels really good to have a plan going into summer.  

Anything else you can think of that I need to remember?  Thanks!