WORK TIME TEACHER TOOLKIT: Use Exemplar Notes As You Confer
We suggest you carry some exemplar note-taking pages you can reference as you confer. For example, you could use the pages you annotated during the minilesson, as well as any notes you’ve jotted during read-aloud time. Then, as you confer, you can show examples of the techniques you want to teach students. You’ll find additional sample pages, including the page about a dung beetle’s life cycle, on the online resources.
If you want to teach students that… Researchers organize their notes by subtopic
Then you might say…
“One way to keep your notes organized is to make each page in your reader’s notebook be about a different subtopic. This page was all about a dung beetle’s life cycle, so the note-taker titled it ‘Life Cycle.’ “Think about your notes. What subtopic do you want to take notes on right now? Jot that subtopic at the top of your page. Then, make this whole page be about that one thing.” “Once you’ve done a big sketch on your page, or a few smaller sketches, you can add captions, labels, and arrows to capture even more information that you’re learning. Like here, next to abdomen , the notetaker wrote ‘strong muscles to flap the wings.’ And here, the researcher used arrows to show how parts con- nected in order. “Try this right now. Study your notes, and think, ‘Where can I add captions, labels, or arrows?’ Then, add them.“ “Here’s a tip. Main ideas are usually the most important things an author is teaching you. You can—and should—add the main ideas you are learning to your notes. You can put a box around your main idea, just like I did here, to make sure you remember it. “Try this right now. Look across your page of notes, and think, ‘What main idea(s) should I add here?’ You can check back in with the book if you need to. Then jot those main ideas right on the page.” “If you read more about the same subtopic, you can actually add any new information you’re learning to your earlier notes. You can just jot the new information you learned right on the same page or, if you want, you can try what these note-takers tried. You could add the new information you’re learning in a new color or you could even jot it on sticky notes. “Which of these techniques do you want to try?”
Researchers use cap- tions, labels, and arrows to teach more
Researchers add the main ideas they are learning to their notes
Researchers add to their notes as they learn more
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Bend I • Strengthen Nonfiction Research Skills: Researching Plants
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