Update on the ISN

My 7th graders have finally finished up their introductory unit, and we focused on Close Reading, Types of Questions, and Notice and Note signposts. I feel like with these "anchors" in their notebook, they can successfully conquer any text!

First- how cute is this notebook?? I think it's my favorite so far this school year!

Here is a student created key for close reading

These are our models for Fiction and Non-Fiction. I used the first page of Hunger Games for the fiction and an article from NewsELA for the Non-Fiction. We did these together as a class.

I walked through the Types of Questions with students, and we explained each in depth. We even color coded using Green, Yellow, Red to signal that the Green are "Good to Go" and easy to find, the Yellow means "Caution: switch up your way of thinking and be aware" and the Red means "Stop and think before you answer". Students then wrote their own questions using their favorite book or a book they have read before. 

Here's my poster I created and hung in my classroom for types of questions:

Finally, I had students create mini "anchor charts" for the Notice and Note signposts. We use these to do mind mapping, so I thought it would make sense for them to have them accessible in their notebooks.

I'm excited to get into the first unit starting on Monday, even though midterms are already on Tuesday (yikes!). I just feel like setting up the expectations immediately is so important, even if it means we don't get into the units in the textbook until later. Happy Wednesday!