Learning Center

writing

Combine reading & writing in literacy notebooks

september 14, 2008

Combine reading & writing in literacy notebooks

Many teachers have implemented a writer’s notebook concept into their classrooms. But what about a reader’s-writer’s notebook—a literacy notebook? Since we are trying to create writers who write for readers and readers who read like writers, then merging the two together makes sense.

If we want students to utilize stronger words within their written word choice, what better place can you find them than their own, everyday reading. One of the sections of a literacy notebook could be “WOW Words.” Within it are new words they are learning in writing lessons (i.e. synonyms, action verbs, linking verbs, helping verbs) and also lists of words students are noticing in their reading. Now, when writing, the students have a greater pool of words to pull from.

The same is true for sentence construction. If you are trying to teach sentence variety (varying sentence lengths or varying types of sentences), students could collect sentence examples from their current reading. Reading time is not just to work on comprehension skills and strategies but also an opportunity to study mentor texts. Most teachers find that when they merge their reading workshop and writing workshop into a literacy block, their day feels less choppy.

Customize reader's & writer's notebook tabs

Some suggested literacy notebook sections might include:

  • Topics to write about
  • My Writing/ First Drafts
  • Works Under Construction (revisions)
  • Wow Words (synonym study, kinds of verbs, strong word choice collected from literature, etc.)
  • Punctuation Study (grammar rules learned during writing mini-lessons, sample sentences with varied punctuation collected from literature, etc.)
  • Mentor Text Examples (passages from picture books, chapter books, or literature anthologies that are studied for their strong writing techniques. These might include not only the copied passages, but also places for students to experiment in patterning or imitating the writing style or skill within their own writing.)
  • Author & Genre Study (noticing author styles, studying different genre characteristics, teaching text-to-text connections, etc.)
  • Writing about our reading (Literature Response/Reading Journal)
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kris
Kris
3 years ago

Enjoyed this article. Helps with my teacher planning

CompCON 2024
Keep track of thinking and papers with a reader’s notebook

[reading]

Keep track of thinking and papers with a reader’s notebook

Organize supplies to maximize time in small groups

[reading]

Organize supplies to maximize time in small groups

Strengthen the organization of nonfiction notebooks

[reading]

Strengthen the organization of nonfiction notebooks