As students talk, annotate the note-taking samples with students’ observations. “Impressive, readers. You noticed so many things these note-taking pages can teach us about how to take notes. You noticed that sometimes, a note-taker will make a big sketch with lots of details. And sometimes, a note-taker will make a series of small sketches, with arrows between them. That’s especially helpful when you’re reading about something that happens chronologically or sequentially, in order. And you noticed that no matter what kind of sketch you make, it’s helpful to add lots of labels that teach, new information from other sources when you learn it, and headings that tell what the whole page is about. Nice work!” ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT Revisit a familiar section of the read-aloud, and channel partners to discuss how they might take notes on that section. “Let’s put your note-taking skills to work. I’ll project part of our read aloud, Plants in Different Habitats , that we studied yesterday. Look over pages 4 and 5 with your partner, and think, ‘How should we take notes on these pages?’ Use the tips you just recalled from studying the sample notes to help you.” Coach partners as they discuss. LINK Restate your teaching point, and encourage students to draw on all their nonfiction research skills today as they read. Distribute reader’s notebooks to students. “Researchers, today, and whenever you are researching a topic, remember that another important way to hold onto the information you’re learning is to write about it. In particular, we talked about two ways you can write about your reading: you can make a big sketch with labels and captions, or you can make lots of small sketches connected with arrows.” Reveal the start of “Ways to Write about Your Nonfiction Reading” chart to capture this teaching. “Today, as you head off to your treehouses to research, I’ve got a special new tool for you to take with you: a reader’s notebook. You’ll start adding all the notes you take to your notebook. You can jot your thinking on sticky notes and then add it to your notebook, or you can write directly on the pages of your notebook. It’s up to you.
If students need more scaffold- ing, you could work together to take notes that capture key learning. Students might suggest labeling the page “Plant Parts,” and then drawing a big picture of a plant in the middle, with labels to teach about roots, stems, and leaves around the outside.
Coaching to Support Writing about Reading
• “You can’t take notes on everything. It helps to ask, ‘What’s the most important information I just learned about plants?’” • “Does it make sense to do one big sketch with lots of labels or a series of sketches to show what happens in order?” • “Think about what labels you’d add to your sketch(es).”
“As you head off with your note- books, plan to read a big chunk of text and then pause and think, ‘How should I take notes on this chunk?’ And keep in mind that you know other work that you can do as a nonfiction researcher. Draw on all the research strategies you’ve learned to help you. Off you go, Botanists!”
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Session 4 • Use Sketching and Writing to Take Notes
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