Reader’s Binder You need five dividers and the sections are: Resources/Data, Vocabulary, Literary Analysis, Reading Application, Informational Text/Research Process.

Resources/data will include your workshop procedures hand-out, your class syllabus, Learning Styles Inventory, multiple intelligences information, diagnostic testing data, fluency record and FAIR testing score, etc.

Reader’s notebook Your reader’s notebook is the place to record your thinking about a text. It includes your feelings, emotions, memories, and the connections you make. Through writing, you can discover more about what you think and feel about a text. Your reader’s notebook is your way to “scrapbook” your reading thoughts.

The primary purpose of a reader’s notebook is to help you become a better reader by deeply engaging with a text.

Some key points to keep in mind… A response to reading is NOT a test of knowledge. You are unique with your own set of life experiences; therefore, you will read a text differently from someone else. There is no SINGLE way to interpret a text. Multiple interpretations are possible. However, some basic information regarding a text is non-negotiable. You are allowed to change about a text as you read more. While there may not be any “right” or “wrong” answer about how you feel/connect/relate to a text, that is NOT a license to neglect “deep thinking”.

Your reader’s notebook will be divided into three sections: 1) books to read and 2) reading log and 3) reading responses. BTR—here is where you will keep a running list of titles that interest you for future reading. Use the first 5-10 pages for this section. Reading log—In your log, you will keep a daily record of your independent reading. You will calculate a reading rate for EVERY book you read. This reading rate will be used to determine if you have completed your daily reading homework of 20 minutes/day. Reading responses—You will write about your reading on a daily basis during independent reading. You will receive a hand-out with some sentence starters to help you with ideas of what to write about. Here is where you should use your page-markers to mark passages that you would like to comment on in your reader’s notebook. These responses are NOT intended to be summaries.

How to calculate your reading rate: For EVERY book that you read and are counting for your homework of 20 minutes of reading/day, you will time yourself with reading for 10 minutes; then you will count the number of pages and multiply by 12. This will let both of us know if you are reading the required 20 minutes/day or not. Your weekly homework grade will be based on whether you read this amount of pages or not. You may abandon a book; the amount of pages and time spent on an abandoned book will still count for homework, but not towards the 40-book project, of course, as those are for finished books.

GUIDELINES FOR INDEPENDENT READING You must always be reading a book or writing your thoughts about reading. You may look for a book on Mrs. W’s shelves but do so as quickly as possible. You need to work SILENTLY to enable you and your peers to do your best thinking. READING IS THINKING and you can only do your best thinking when it is quiet. Use a soft voice when conferring with Mrs. W. You are not to interrupt Mrs. W. when she is conferring with other students as your task is to be reading. Your independent reading time is VERY valuable; therefore, it is very important that everyone is respectful and courteous in maintaining the silent atmosphere that every reader needs to “become one with the book”.

LET THE READING ADVENTURE BEGIN!!!