N.O.T.E.S.

I wanted to share the ONLY thing I have for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers, ha. :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it for taking notes on testing or any thing read, really.

Each letter of the word NOTES, stands for a skill of "close reading".

--->N.O.T.E.S

I like the ease of having them separated, though many classrooms at my school used the poster just put together.  I separated mine to have the ability to teach closely one skill.  I pull down the S and say, today, I'm really looking for those quick simple sketches that help me see you understand the story.

In case you don't want to buy it and make your own - and honestly some of the best ideas are the ones we share here is what they mean:

N. NUMBER your paragraphs or sentences.  This will make it easy when citing work or having to go back and look for an answer in a specific paragraph.

O. Circle or Box words and sentences that are crucial for understanding.  In the beginning they circle too much and not the right stuff, but they have gotten SO much better over the past three and half months.

#hasTag.  This is the best, especially in third grade.  They think it's a riot.  #what?!  #thisiswrong #money!  You can see in the photos hashtagging is a BIG hit and the kids love it!

E. EXPRESS your own ideas and thoughts.  Make a connection to the text understand by connection.  "Me too" or "Not fair!"

finally everyone's favorite:

S. SIMPLE SKETCHES  Quick drawings that help you understand what you read with a quick glance.  They kids eat this one up.

Here are some student work samples of "marking" up their READING before they answer questions or produce a writing sample.

I especially love seeing them take standardized testing and watching them write down this strategy to use. :)

At this point in our year, I don't even say start with NOTES, they just begin numbering their sentences or paragraphs and circling key words.

#icouldjustdieiloveherhashtags ;)

If you haven't guessed, their favorite part is #hashtagging everything.  Some of them are more successful than others.