Love Your Reading Logs

My Reading Log Journey

Whether you are a teacher or not, you've probably used reading logs in some form or another at some point in your life. I used them in elementary school and I've been using them my entire teaching career. I've certainly had a love/hate relationship with them at times.

When I first began teaching, I used the "write a summary sentence" logs. You know, the ones that have room for a sentence and a parent signature each night and that's about it. About three years into my career, I realized that I wasn't getting anything out of these reading logs. As I read them over each week, I couldn't get over how monotonous they were. I felt like I was punishing my students AND myself. I've always had trouble assigning work just to assign it and reading logs were definitely falling in to that category for me. They weren't informing me of anything besides the fact that my students clearly disliked them as much as I did. I wanted to just get rid of reading logs all together. However, at-home reading was required at my school, so I knew I needed to make a change. I sat down and made a list of the skills and strategies that my fifth graders would need to practice and I set out to create new logs for my students. I focused on one strategy or skill at a time, creating logs as I covered different skills and strategies. I wanted to make sure that I created something that I felt would be a true indicator of a student's ability to apply the skills and strategies to their own independent reading. I didn't have a lot of graphic know-how back then, so the first one looked like this:

Maybe it wasn't the cutest, but I'm still incredibly proud of this creation not because of how it looks, but because it does exactly what I need it to do. I still remember when I switched over to these reading logs and my first batch were handed in that Friday. What a difference! I was finally able to read responses and assess each student's ability with that specific skill or strategy. It was easy to see which students had mastered an area of focus and which ones needed more practice, which was great for planning for reading groups as well. 

That was seven years ago. Today, these logs are more aesthetically pleasing, and I'm pleased to say that they've grown to be a set of 20 logs. 

Teaching and Assigning Logs

So, how do I use these with my students? First, I introduce one log at a time. For example, we start with narrative elements, so I start with a narrative elements log. I model, model, model using each log so that I am 100% sure that students understand my expectations. The best time to do this is after our read-aloud. I might introduce and model on Monday, model again on Tuesday, then give students a chance to do one themselves after our read-aloud on Wednesday and Thursday. For the logs that they do themselves, I copy Wednesday and Thursday back to back. At the end of Thursday's practice, I collect their logs and look them over. I select those that are closest to what I modeled, and then I share them on Friday - with student permission, of course. 

The following week I begin to assign that log with their independent reading. This can be independent reading in the classroom or at home, or both. In fact, I created two sets of logs, one with parent signature spaces and one without, so that I can do either. I teach fifth grade and when we start the year, I assign two per week, and then, as we add more skills and strategies and students become more comfortable with them, usually around mid-October, I add another, and when we come back from winter break in January, students start to complete 4 logs per week. 

Reading Logs as Assessment

I look at reading logs as an informal assessment. As I mentioned above, student responses alert me to what I need to do next. Did the log indicate mastery with all skills and strategies that were addressed? Does the student struggle with the narrative elements log and not the predicting one? As a teacher, it's my job to use these logs to assist me in making decisions for remediation. I find them to be a valuable assessment tool when planning my reading instruction, especially when it comes to guided reading. I do take the time to sit down and read them all, because if I'm not, why on Earth am I assigning it? I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it doesn't take time, but I will say that it's worth it, especially when you get that one in front of you that blows you away, the one that you can't wait to show the entire class on Monday, because it is THAT awesome! It's important to highlight those amazing logs weekly to keep reminding students of your expectations, and equally important to highlight many different students so that it is clear that everyone is equally capable of meeting those expectations.

Take-Aways

Look at your reading logs. Ask yourself, "What information can I gather from this assignment?" If the answer is nothing, or you find it's so minimal an amount that you are cringing, rid yourself of them and create something new. I'm including a link to mine below, but I'm not very good at promotion, so I'll say that as a teacher, you know what you need. Don't be afraid to create something yourself. You'll be much happier when you can look at your logs and know that you have a valuable resource in front of you. 

Click on the image above to preview my independent reading logs.

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Synthesizing in the Elementary Classroom

Synthesizing…if you're like me, the first time that you heard about this strategy was when you started teaching. For whatever reason, not one of my teachers throughout my many years of education asked me to synthesize my reading, so this one took me awhile to get my head around. However, I've finally come to understand what synthesizing is all about and am now much better equipped to teach this important strategy. I do find this to be one of the more challenging strategies that I teach, so I do wait until I'm sure that my students are really secure in their understandings of the other strategies before we do any synthesizing. This actually makes it really easy to teach, because students are naturally synthesizing all the time, and when you make them aware of it, you'll probably get a lot of "oh yeahs" from your students.

So how do I introduce synthesizing? I start by telling students what synthesizing is, using this poster. Click on the images to print your own copy for free.

Then I take out my Nesting Dolls (I found mine at World Market) to help me model synthesizing. They are the perfect way to model since synthesizing is about peeling back the layers to dig deeper in your understanding. You could use an onion, but that just wouldn't provide a very nice aroma! 

My favorite book to use for synthesizing is Zen Shorts. As you can see from our chart, most students think "shorts" is referring to the shorts that the panda is wearing on the cover. Then as we begin to read, the students realize that the book is actually about a panda who share tales of Zen with three children, each with a different lesson to be learned. The chart that we created really enabled students to see and understand the process of synthesizing. 

You'll notice that I have adorable nesting dolls along the sides of my chart. I found this wonderful resource from One Extra Degree. You can click on the picture below to see this resource in her store. I laminated a number of sets so that students can use them with their reading during independent practice as well. The set also includes think cards (as seen on the right hand side of my chart) and graphic organizers. I use this resource ALL the time! 

One Extra Degree

After I've modeled synthesizing with Zen Shorts, we then do a guided practice with the wonderful story  Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco. If you do not have this book in your collection, add it to your shopping list because it lends itself beautifully to a number of different skills and strategies and students LOVE it! For notes and a graphic organizer, I use The First Grade Parade's Synthesis Superhero charts, which are free on her blog. We take a long time to discuss the story, page by page, and when we finish, we talk about how are thinking changed. Many students think that Emma Kate is a little girl with an imaginary elephant friend, but there's a twist at the end of the story! It's a great way to discuss how their thinking changed. 

Click the picture below to be taken to the link that includes the free Synthesis Superhero resources from 

First Grade Parade.

The First Grade Parade

Now, of course, I teach fifth so these are simply introductory lessons. Students learn about synthesizing in these first few days, and then we carry it in to guided reading rotations for a week with an on-level chapter book. After a week or two of practice in guided reading, it becomes a part of their independent reading rotation. Students complete independent reading logs that are focused on synthesizing. These logs are a part of my Independent Reading Logs. To see them in my store, you can click on the picture below. 

I hope this post helped to make teaching synthesizing a little less overwhelming!

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Students on the Case - An Engaging Inference Activity

Almost a year ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Melissa from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late at a Virginia blogger meet-up. For me, it was like meeting a celebrity, because I found Melissa's TpT store  long before I found her, and I had a particular obsession with her wonderful Mysteries because at this time last year, they were a fantastic tool for review, so much so that they are now a staple in my classroom when it's time to review one of the harder strategies, making inferences.

I must confess that I own all of her mysteries at this point, which makes for a super fun review. On "Solve the Mystery Day" I prepare 5 cases and set them up as rotations. I put each mystery in an envelope, with the answer sheets copied for each student, and the case printed out. I hold on to the mystery solution in a separate envelope. Students are assigned groups and then assigned cases in a certain order. As we begin, they sit down with their first case, and one student takes out the background information and reads it to the rest of the group. Then they look through the suspects, considering what they read, and having awesome discussions about why one suspect works over another. It is truly fantastic conversation, as I hear them reading, using their schema, debating, and coming to a final decision about the culprit. They realize that it is hard work, and as fifth graders, they really spend a lot of time analyzing the characters. so it's the kind of work that makes my teacher heart incredibly happy!

Since I own all of Melissa's sets, I do this once during the time that my students are learning about making inferences and then again at this time of year, to get that critical thinking going again before it's time for testing! They are excited the first time, but are ecstatic when we do it a second time, because they feel like their investigative skills have greatly improved, and they're right! The second round always includes better discussions, and more agreement in the end.

I highly recommend grabbing any or all of Melissa's Mysteries. You can even start out by checking out her freebie, The Case of the Missing Mascot, by clicking below.

Happy Case-Solving! 

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Snowmen in Disguise Inference Activity

If you read my last post, you already know that I'm knee-deep in teaching the art of inferring and you already know that I love to use riddles to teach students the art of making an inference. What's better than using already created riddles to infer? Well, how about creating your own riddles? My students LOVE to create riddles, so a few years ago I created Wanted: Turkeys in Disguise Inference Activity. The next year, we covered making an inference in December so I created Undercover Santa Inference Activity. Last year, my students enjoyed Undercover Santa so much that I created Easter Bunny in Disguise Inference Activity. Well, this year, we shifted some of our pacing around and I found myself focusing on making an inference in January so turkeys and Santa were yesterday's news and no one is quite ready to be thinking of the Easter bunny (except Target, because they are always three holidays ahead of the rest of us), so I had to think of something new. Lucky for me, Monster Wrangler Mike, my go-to guy for disguise clip art had an adorable set of snowmen in disguise! And thus, Snowman in Disguise: The Case of the Missing Snowcakes Inference Activity was born. My students loved it, as always, and I really enjoyed their creations. For each of these, I write a background story that will hook my students, so that they have a reason to create a disguise. We read that together and then they do the rest during our reading rotations in an independent center. We start on Monday and their riddles and coloring are due on that Friday, which is when we do a gallery walk. We do two rounds, the first with just the riddles on their desks and their inference sheet in their hands to record their inference. Then, a second round with the pictures out for students to find out if they were able to correctly infer the disguise. They really have a blast with this and I believe that it really helps them to understand that process of reading text clues + schema = inference. Here's a look at some of their work, along with some super cheesy headlines, in true Mrs. O form! 

If you're interested in grabbing this for an engaging activity for your class, click on the picture below to see it in my TpT store. 

I'm hoping making an inference falls on yet another holiday next year! These are such a blast to create and use in my classroom!

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Making Inferences Using Animated Short Films

Want to start a great class discussion and get students buzzing with inferences? Use short films to get those inferences flowing!

During my first week out of three (and to infinity and beyond) that I focus on teaching students to infer, I try to incorporate many different ways to think about how we make an inference when reading. I like to kickstart each day during that first week with a different short film to get our inferences flowing. Students are given an inference chart and asked to record what they see, what they know, and what they infer. Now, I will say that these are a great tool, but when I first started to use these I had an unrealistic expectation…I thought that students would make their inferences in order from the start. In all actuality, they were more quick to make the inference. I found this discouraging at first, but then I realized that if they had the inference, then it would be my job to get them to think about their thinking, asking them to think about what they saw and what they knew that allowed them to infer at all. I don't change the order of the chart, because it's important  for them to recognize that the process actually happens in the order that the chart is in, and so we talk a lot about how this is helping them to understand the process of their thoughts as they make decisions about the text that they are reading. It's really a rather awesome discussion and by the end of the week, they ARE actually filling out the chart in order. Here are the links to the videos that I use, in the order that I use them.

We start with For the Birds, which students have usually seen at least once. It's fairly easy to infer that the larger bird is being bullied and the small birds don't like him because he's different.

Here's the chart that my students came up with. Again, they definitely had the two inferences immediately, but I had them go back and think about why they were able to make each inference. 

Geri's Game

Here's one of our inferences from Geri's Game: 

Partly Cloudy

I think this one is my favorite because it is chock full of inferences. Here's one of the many that my our class came up with: 

One Man Band

This is an inference that my class made about the first part, before the second musician entered the picture.

Pigeon: Impossible

Since I do this one on our fifth day of this, students have made a lot of progress, which is great because this film is a bit longer and there are so many things that can be inferred when you watch it. I have them do this one entirely on their own for a classwork grade. I'd definitely recommend having several pages ready to fill out, as my students had TONS to share! It was awesome to see how much they had progressed in their understanding of this strategy by day #5! 

If you would like to use the charts and examples that I've shared here, please click on the image below: 

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Teaching Students to Make an Inference

If there is one strategy that my fifth graders struggle with year after year, it is making inferences. Each year, I introduce this strategy with a chart that shows them the process of making an inference.

The thing about this, is what we cover observations and inferences in science so I'm always expecting my students will make the connection and a few of them do. I also know that we introduce students to this strategy in third grade, so it shouldn't be brand new. Nevertheless, each year, when I mention that we are going to begin to talk about inferences, I don't get the familiarity that I am hoping for, so I go back to the basics. 

To begin my introduction, I use the chart above with Inference Riddles from Phil Tulga. He has a lot of great riddles on his site. I sometimes mix up the order to build from the less obvious to the totally obvious, and I add my own clues in here and there, but his site is a great place to get riddles so you don't have to make up your own. Here's an example of how we might use one: 

Notice that I list all of the riddle clues along the left column. I do not list anything in the schema column until I have read all of the clues. This is because making inferences is about reading all of the clues, adding it to what you already know, and concluding the answer based on the combination of clues and your knowledge. Students are going to naturally guess based on the first clue, but those guesses are really more like predictions because they aren't putting all of the clues together yet and thus will end up with a lot of guesses that don't make sense as they add more clues. Imagine what students would think it was if the only clue were round. They could predict a ton of items, but they would be basing that on one clue. That's why, when we "picture walk", we ask students to predict. We are giving them limited information to "guess" about the story and then confirm that guess with a yes or no at the end. Now, don't get me wrong, I think we should encourage students to make predictions in their mind as they read, because we want them to use all of the strategies as they read. We just want them to understand that making an inference happens when they put all of the clues together, and students use their background knowledge (they love to say "schema") with those clues to make a decision about the text. A discussion about their background knowledge and how it may differ from others can be really helpful here. For example, if I lived in China, this could be a very challenging riddle for me because I won't have any schema about a penny. That is also why some questions that require a child to infer can be very tricky, as some students have much more limited background knowledge than others. 

After students understand the process of making an inference, I apply our learning to our current read-aloud (not usually in the same day, but in the next day or two). My students always have their own copy of my read-aloud so that they can follow along or listen, and so that we can do guided practice of the strategies that they are learning with a familiar story. 

We're currently reading my all-time favorite fifth grade read-aloud, Maniac Magee. Here are some of the inferences that students made as we read on our first day of applying our strategy.  Please excuse the writing residue, as I'm in great need of a new eraser! 

I was quite impressed by what they come up with for their first round and though it's not reflected in the chart, we talked about the fact that we want more than one text clue to make an inference (to again be sure that we are making an inference and not a prediction) and they did orally add more to their clues, I just ran out of room! I did need to guide them a bit more at first, but they are really getting the hang of it now and they are on their way to inference success! 

If you'd like a copy of my inference chart, click on the picture below. 

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Flashback: Turkeys in Disguise

Last year, when I posted my Turkeys in Disguise product, my students had not yet completed their work. As I prepare to use this in the classroom, I wanted to finally post the work of last year's group!

My Turkeys in Disguise  resource is for intermediate students. I loved all of the Turkeys in Disguise that were out there, but the activities weren't challenging enough to justify their use in a fifth grade classroom. Since we were working on inferring, I decided to come up with my own activity where students disguise their  turkey, but they have to give hints about the disguise so that other students can guess what they are. We did a gallery walk as students put their hints on their desks and made guesses about each one. Then we did a second walk where their "undercover identity" was revealed. My students were engaged and really recognized the connection between this activity and what we had been learning. It was awesome! Here's some of their creations, as well as the bulletin board that I put up that was a big hit in our school!

 

If you're wishing that you had known about this BEFORE Thanksgiving because you would've loved to use it in the classroom, you're in luck! I actually have one of these for Christmas too! You can find it here: 

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