Stop, Note, & Notice Book Suggestions!

Have you heard of this great book? Last year, my coach, Kara and I worked our way through the book and tested out many sign posts together. It was a wonderful way to get the students to look closer at text and think deeply. I enjoyed this book because I could understand what the authors were explaining and could actually picture the strategy situations happening in my own classroom. To improve the book, I would suggest a book list of picture books & chapter books that are perfect for the different strategies. I wasn't the only person who thought about this idea, in fact, when I talked to my coach, Kara, we both tried to brainstorm books to match the sign posts. Somewhere along the line, we were invited to add to a Google Doc of ideas. This was VERY helpful and I am excited to continue to use these strategies this year! To make me remember the books, I compiled a personal list of my favorite books that fit with the sign post strategies. I am going to print this out and put it in my lesson planning book. 

I own all of these books and house them in my classroom. Although some of these books are read over and over again throughout the grade levels and years, I find it perfectly acceptable to reuse them. It's great to reread a book, but for a different purpose. It allows the students to look deeper into the book and to think about it in a different way. It is also a great strategy for struggling readers because it was already preread and pretaught at a different time. This helps them get more out of the new lesson by not focusing so much on understanding the text, but about understanding and using the new strategy.

Since I've been using this book so much, I created my own set of sign posts for a classroom bulletin board. They work out great because the students are constantly referring to them and it is really awesome when they let you know they could use a strategy in their Just Right Chapter Book after silent reading time!

I'd love to know what you think of this book and what books you would recommend for the sign posts. To access and add to the Google Doc, click on the image below.

If you haven't read this book yet and teach Reading in grades 3+, I would highly suggest adding it to your summer reading list! What you learn is completely doable and very meaningful!

Have a great weekend!