Reader's Notebooks

My learners keep a Reader's Notebook where they write to me about their reading.  I integrate the Common Core ELA standards in by writing back to them and asking them a question relating to our objectives of the week.  I also have a very specific rubric for that letter.  For years I printed them on paper, trimmed them and glued them in the notebooks.  I also used to hand write all the letters.  The hard part was how much time it took, and I was rewriting the same question to every child, and the books were so heavy to bring back and forth from school.  Last year I had the great idea of creating the rubric on an Avery shipping labels.  I have the basic rubric all set up, and then I can change the "focus areas" to match the objective or standard we are working on for that week or story.  If the book they are reading does not fit the standard, then I ask a question about our class Read-a-Loud, because I always choose books which focus on our theme.  Students must answer my question in the first paragraph of their letter.  The second paragraph must be an original thought or idea about what they read.  I give them a list of topics they can write about to keep in their writing folder. 

The other great thing I discovered is I can respond using the shipping labels too.  I choose a very nice font that looks like hand writing and then this quickens the process too.  My first paragraph is always personal and a response to what they wrote to me.  Then in the second paragraph I can ask the same question or type of question to each child quickly and easy by pasting it in or having it saved in the template beside the rubric.  What used to take me about 3 hours, now takes me about 45 minutes!

My kids just finished the state's exam (MCAS) and one of my kids shared that she felt the best part was the open response questions, because they were just like our Reader's Notebooks.