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Reading Response Letters, Syllabus, and a giveaway!

Classroom· Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday friends! Today (actually yesterday) was suppose to be about the last chapter of the Word Nerd book study, but I wanted to share the reading response letters and syllabus since so many of you asked about it. I’ll post my chapter 8 thoughts tomorrow (hopefully!) BUT Heather and I are having a giveaway that is happening now! Be sure and enter at the end of this post! 🙂Okay, first things first! I’ve uploaded my reading response letters that I have the kids write every Friday. 


In this letter, they will write a letter to me about their current book. The letters must be a page in length. They will tell me their thoughts and opinions on the book. I have created a ‘book’ for each of my students where they will write their letter to me each Friday. There are pages for every Friday throughout the school year, so there are 40 writing templates. I’ve done this for the past two years and I have decided on a book format this year for several reasons:*It will help get them in the habit on writing this after the tests. They can just go and grab their’s from the shelf and get comfy and write!*It’s more organized! They usually just cram their letter back in their binder when I hand it back. Now it will be in their ‘book’.* They (and I! and their parents!) can see their writing improvement throughout the year. <——THE BEST PART!!!* Their own book makes it a little more “fun”* They can reread past letters and reflect back on their thinking and their experience with that particular book. You can get them here.
I’m not uploading my syllabus because it won’t be perfect for everyone’s classroom. We don’t all do the same things! I’m just going to post it as pictures so you can see what is in mine. I go over this with the students the first day, but it is also for the parents. If you’ll notice, I require the students AND the parents to sign off on this. I still have to tweak it a bit, but here it is. 🙂

Be sure to enter the giveaway that Heather and I are throwing! 
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Comments

  1. This will be my first year in fifth grade, I loved following you when I was in first and I am so glad that you are in fifth!

  2. Can't wait to use your reading responses! Thank you for showing your syllabus. I teach all subjects except science. I am going to try to make one and use yours as a guide!

  3. I've been soaking up everything on your blog/Instagram for the last few weeks because this will be my first year teaching fifth grade! I've taught 6th/7th before, and after looking through all your classroom decor and ideas, I am SO excited to move down to 5th! I also can't wait to incorporate some Word Nerds activities, too! 🙂

  7. Can I tell you that yesterday I found out that I will be moving from 4th to 5th grade! I am so excited that I found your blog. Thanks for sharing your syllabus. It is great! So many great ideas!

    Shepherd's Shining Stars

  9. I love your blog and all your creative ideas. This is my first year teaching and your blog has been incredibly helpful to me. Thank you!

  10. Hmm, I am considering making my students write letters as responses to keep them more accountable and on track. Thanks for sharing!
    bneumann24[at]hotmail.com

  11. Thank you for the reading response letters! I can't wait to use them this year they will be so much better to check student comprehension of independent reading than AR logs.

    • You're welcome! I love using them! I can definitely see improvement throughout the year, I just needed a way to be more organized about it! 🙂

  13. Thank you! On the reading response letters, does the purchase include a criterion/ruric? Also is every entry a different response prompt for the letter? Thanks

    • No, it's simply a way for the process of writing reading response letters to be more organized and thought out. There isn't a prompt on each page. I give my kids examples of what to include and they just write! 🙂

  14. I've been struggling with how I wanted to word my syllabus for the year to be more parent friendly. Thank you for another great post! I really get so much help from your ideas.

  17. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your syllabus! I am going to use it as a guide for my VERY FIRST 5th grade Reading class! You're a lifesaver!

  18. So refreshing to see a great example of quality information! Thank you for sharing! 🙂

  19. It's so refreshing to see such quality and informational examples! Thank you for sharing!!

  20. I love this product and can't wait to own everything you have for fifth grade.

  21. This is my first year teaching 5th grade and I love all your ideas! I appreciate the attention to detail! I have started a shopping cart in TPT:)

  22. What resource do you use for your Comp checks? Is it the comp files in your TPT store?

    • No I use those for practice for the comp checks and showing evidence. I talk about the comp checks here. lifeinfifthgrade.com/2015/07/testing-in-5th-grade.html 🙂

  23. Well you already know about my obsession with your blog and TPT store – but I really think these ideas are going to change my language arts block and strengthen our comprehension and prepare for our standardized tests. I love the proving your answers!

  24. I am very interested in trying your Reading Response Letters and I love the idea of each student having their own book. I can't seem to find anything more about them than the paragraph or so written above. When I click on the "you can get them here" button it takes me to something totally different. Can you help guide me to any additional information or examples? Thanks in advance for your help. If needed my email is – btooke@tampabay.rr.com.

  25. I am having the same problem as the person above. I would love to get your reading response letters. I looked them up on tPt, but it says there is nothing under that title. My email is rodriguez@brooklynarbor.org if you could just let me know how I can get them. Thank you for sharing all of your work!!!!!

  26. I am having the same problem as the person above. I would love to get your reading response letters. I looked them up on tPt, but it says there is nothing under that title. My email is rodriguez@brooklynarbor.org if you could just let me know how I can get them. Thank you for sharing all of your work!!!!!

  27. Would you mind sharing a couple of the fonts you used to create your syllabus? I love this! It is extremely parent friendly, and will hold students more accountable for expectations this year : )

  28. Please upload your syllabus or place it in your store! I have combed TPT and this is the only one that resembles my classroom. We even use Scott Foresman. Please!!

  29. I want to say thank you for sharing and for all your help. I appreciate you and all the resources you have provided. I was about to quit teaching it is my first year being an actual teacher, but because of all of your resources I have found an organized system that I love. Thanks so much again.

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