Michelle, I teach second grade and put my conferencing sheets in each student's RW notebook and it works like a dream for me. Whenever I conference with a child or meet with a small group they always have their notebooks with them and I don't have to worry about losing pages or trying to find things I need at the last minute...it's all there. I also tell the kids what I'm writing because I have a section for what they did well and what they need to work on. Sometimes I will write what they need to work on on a sticky note and they keep it with them when they read as a reminder (most of the time with second graders that is a decoding strategy). Then I check back to see how that is working. I started this method 2 years ago and love it. I am also able to share notes with parents easily at conferences because the kids have the notebooks their to share the books they've read and responses they've written. I teach in Iowa, too! I went to your website to find out where you teach. I teach in the Ballard school district near Ames. It's exciting to "meet" someone from your own state on the listserv!
Wendy ----- Original Message ----- From: Michelle TeGrootenhuis<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group'<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 9:31 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] reading conferences PLUS an idea! --------- Debbie wrote, "The one thing that I can see the value of is the students having control of the notebooks." --------- Don't forget to check out Beth Newingham's web page. Remember she has AWESOME resources available to download for a reader's notebook. http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/index.htm<http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/index.htm> Click on "Literacy Links," then on "Reader's Workshop," and finally, about half way down the page she has a link to her Reader's Notebook ideas and .PDF files. (Also many are in .doc so you can adapt them to fit your needs as well.) I think you could easily incorporate a section in each notebook for your own anecdotal records. The students would have their notebooks with them as they were reading and you could just open up to that section as you conference with them. I'm thinking of trying that next year in 5th grade. Has anyone tried this? One benefit would be a sense of "ownership" as each student can see exactly what you are writing. I'm also playing with the idea of having a 3 box record sheet. One box would be a note keeping box, where you could either record a running record, or just conference notes. The second box would be titled, "I liked...," to record positive behaviors you noticed. And the last would be, "How about...?" where you could record what you'd like that student to work on. Run about 4 or 5 of these sheets back to back and place them into the student's notebook, ready for you each time you conference and just keep adding to the section as you need. Then each conference is recorded and ready to share at parent-teacher conference time. What do you think??? -Michelle/IA http://www.mrstg.com<http://www.mrstg.com/> _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org<http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org>. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive<http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive>. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
