Thursday, August 14, 2014

Book Logs for Student Accountability

Last year my students learned how to select good fit books and selected their own books all year. The one thing that was really lacking was keeping track of what books were read. I didn't hold the student's accountable for ever actually finishing a book or keeping a record of what was read. Each student had a bag of 5-6 books and they could read a different book each time they came to class if they chose. Last year was a learning year for me. I tried to follow  Joan Moser's and Gail Boushey's  Read to Self and CAFE routine during our 30 minute every other day sessions. I'll continue that this year but I'm adding bits and pieces that will fit from Donalyn Miller's books The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild.

Change number one will be that students will only have two books in their bag. Change number two will be having the students keep a book log with the title and pages read each day. Now my question is; how do I that? If I do a paper log that's kept in the book bag there's always the chance it will get lost. Last year all my students had access to an iPad in class. I'm hoping that will be the case again this year. If it is, I'd really like the book log to be on the iPad. Something they can access quickly to fill in the needed information: date, title, author-maybe, and pages read. The students will be third, fourth and fifth graders. Any suggestions on how to do this? So far, my only idea is a Google form.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, thanks!