We have been working very hard becoming fantastic readers this year. Not only have our reading skills improved, but we also have grown in our abilities to reflect and write about our reading. The Reading Response Blog has really helped!

Go back to the earliest Reading Response Blog posts (Here are links: #1, #2, and #3). Read your responses to the prompts.

How have you grown in your ability to reflect and write about your reading? Compare and contrast your responses at the beginning of the school year to now.


I can't wait to hear your reflections about your responses!

The weather is getting nicer and we're spending more time outdoors. I don't know about you, but I find it one of the best times of the year to get into a good book. There's nothing I love more than devouring a book amid the beautiful outdoors, whether it's by a pond, on the beach, or just overlooking my backyard.

I bet many of you are reading some great books. Some of you may also be in need of some book suggestions. Let's hear about your independent reading books and see what everyone is interested in right now.

Tell us about your independent reading book this week. Summarize the story so far. Make sure you are clear on who the main characters are, what the setting of the story is, and what the plot of the story is.

Try using modifying clauses in your summary to add more detail and clarify who is who and what is what. Modifying clauses, which are separated by commas, help your writing become clearer and more specific. Use them!

Happy Responding!

Visualizing is an important skill to have as a reader. When you visualize, you form a mental picture of what the words are describing. Visualizing is often a natural skill for people who have vivid imaginations and have seen a lot in their experiences. 

Great descriptions invite us to use our visualization skills. Authors use clever, striking words and phrases to enable readers to picture characters, settings, objects, and actions in their heads. Without great descriptions, we would struggle to see the "movie in our minds" as we read. Everything would be blurry instead of crystal clear.

From your current independent reading, choose one or more great descriptions that helps you visualize a character, a setting, an object, or actions. 

• Quote the text accurately. 
  
• Explain how the description(s) helped you visualize by focusing on the specific word choice of the author.
  
• Explain why it is important for a reader to be able to visualize this description in relation to the plot or purpose of the story.
  

I look forward to hearing about all of the visualizing you are doing in your reading!