Every year I try to find a way to keep track of the books we read in class. I have tried to list the books on chart paper, and I find that I quickly lose track, and I get tired of writing all those titles.
Last year I listed the books we read on Shelfari. I loved keeping track on Shelfari, but I didn't necessarily connect it to the class. So, I finally came up with an idea I like. I am printing book covers and gluing them on a chart. Each row on the chart has five books. At the end of the month, students vote for their favorite book. Each child is given a POST-IT to put under their favorite.
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Students also record their favorite on a response sheet.
{booklet download below}
I found putting the covers on a chart has allowed for more conversations with the kids. I keep seeing kids go over and talk about the different books and seeing the cover helps them remember. I was surprised by some of the books students enjoyed. Listening to these conversations helps me get to know my students better. I think voting each month gives us a ritual and adds excitement to our book work.
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We took the top five and voted one more time!
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These are my favorite books for September  Student's Response Sheet Each month we will fill in the sheet below. The recording sheet will be added to their reading section of their portfolio.  Favorite Book Each Month Download |
Great idea. Do you keep this up as an ongoing display?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to continue conversation about books. I love it!
ReplyDeleteYour kids must know how important reading is!
ReplyDelete❀ Tammy
Forever in First
Mrs. Parker, I do plan to keep them up all year. I have a high board that is usually bare so I plan to put them up there. I hope to have kids compare each month and what we notice about the kinds of books we are reading too! Melissa
ReplyDeleteLove seeing what books your class is reading and voting on as their favorite! I have thought of doing something similar with miniature book covers in graph form to track the different genres that we are reading. Thanks for sharing your great ideas!
ReplyDeleteLori
Conversations in Literacy
What a terrific idea. Practical, purposeful, and engaging for the students. So glad Monday starts a new month. I am going to do it. We are starting graphing. So many possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Sara
Thanks for sharing! Our school is focusing on opinion writing this year and in K-2 our prompt is our favorite book. What do your kids write below on the lines- just the title of the book or the title and a reason (their support for their opinion)? I would love to see a sample of their work.
ReplyDelete~ Amy
ahunt@narragansett.k12.ri.us
Hi Amy, I am posting some on my class blog this afternoon, I will send you the link. The goal would be to say why. For this response just writing the title and picture was asked! Melissa
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa!
ReplyDeleteI did look at your classroom blog today and saw your students' responses. Thanks for referring me there. I really enjoy reading your writing posts- they make teaching writing fun! I want to incorporate your monthly "favorite book" responses. Do you think you would be able to post all the months in advance so that I can print them out? Thanks again for sharing your ideas!
~ Amy
ahunt@narragansett.k12.ri.us
Great I knew I had to email someone about that! I will work on the months and post them before hand. I am glad your going to do it in your class! Melissa
ReplyDeleteI always look forward toward reading your posts. How did you print out the book covers? They looked like they were printed together at the same time??? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary I went to Google and put in the title of the book. I would then click images and drag and drop to my desktop. From there I opened up Pages you could probably do this on Microsoft and imported the image and made them small. I lined up all five books on the page (you can often make the image smaller/bigger) then I printed out and glued that strip down rather then five separate books. I hope that makes sense Mary! Thanks for reading my posts! Melissa
ReplyDelete