[Random]

About how much time do you set aside for responding to reading every week? Is 15 minutes enough time for kids to write in a reading journal? I really can't remember how long it took my kidlets last year!

[Ms. Teacher#1]

I give 10 to 15 minutes. I give them prompts which helps them to start right away. Since students use sticky notes while reading, they just remove them and use them to help them with their journal response. It's been going great so far .

[Linda/OH]

For most of my second graders, they needed more like 20-30 min at the beginning of the year . As they became more proficient, 15-20 seemed more like it.

[oz lover]

I also am teaching 2nd grade. How do you have the kids respond? In the past when I taught 3rd grade the kids had a list of questions that they could respond to in their reading folder. It was always a little overwhelming to them to have to choose a question. I want the kids to make meaningful responses, not something they feel rushed through.

[Linda/OH]

Right now we're just responding by completing graphic organizers. Our focus was on describing characters last week so they had a character chart to fill out. this week it'll be a story map. I will start the friendly letter a bit later where students write in their reading response notebooks to me about their reading. I write back. It is a wonderful way to communicate about reading. sometimes it's more open ended, sometimes with a prompt to get them started. I model many times before expecting this using class read alouds and making class charts for anchors. This is largely from Fountas & Pinnell's work.