Using Interactive Notebooks to Teach Reading and Writing -

By Beth at the Southern Schoolhouse

This is something new for me and I really love it! Have I used reading and writing notebooks in the past for my ELA instruction? Yes I have, but never as intentionally and consistently as I am using them now. Also I have never felt they have been as beneficial until this year.

As I said, I have used reading and writing notebooks in the past, but over the past 3 years my use of these notebooks in my ELA instruction has evolved. When I introduce a new standard in reading or writing, we start with putting a related “mini” anchor chart in their interactive notebooks. I have anchor charts all around the classroom for visual reminders(I will discuss anchor charts in a future article) so I like for them to have copies in their notebooks as well. Along with the anchor chart they need intentional practice with these standards.

Example

We will use the text we are reading in class or a short sample that is a similar genre to practice the standard. For example, our first anchor chart was “Central Idea or Main Idea”. I chose a short informational text on hurricanes to practice finding the Central Idea. We highlighted in the text and discussed our ideas with partners and together wrote a main idea statement in our notebooks. This was just an introduction to the standard and there will be many more practices with the standard in the future, but I strongly feel students need to “interact” with the text to build the understanding of the standards and comprehension of the text.