Read Aloud Rituals: Book Lover’s Notebook

Here is another idea from Mary Lee Hahn’s Reconsidering Read-Aloud.  Photocopy the front and back covers of  each new chapter book read-aloud and distribute copies to students.  The day you start a new read-aloud, lead students through the process of “orienting to the text.” Encourage students to make predictions, share any known information about the author, etc. Have students place the copies in a “Book Lover’s Notebook”.  At the end of the read-aloud, look back at these copies and remember the first predictions and have students reflect on how their thinking changed over the course of the read-aloud.  Like the Read-Aloud Gallery, the book lover’s notebook provides a handy reference tool for comparing and discussing books throughout the year.