Reading Response Menus Throughout the Year

I have been using a variety of Reading Log/Response to Text formats over the years and am happy to share with you the files that have worked best for me: Response Menus!

Find them in my TpT Store or my new TN Store

These menus have helped to not only address the Common Core standards throughout the school year, but keep my kids more motivated since the menus change from month to month.

Each menu looks similar with three appetizer choices, three main course choices, and three dessert choices:

They have a monthly cupcake and baker, just for fun :)

Each fiction menu selection is offered 2-3 times throughout the year, and each nonfiction selection is offered every other month. Students choose one selection from each course and respond to the prompt for their at-home reading book(s).

These menus are offered August through June and all 36 prompts are listed on the last three pages. These response choices are also all aligned to the following 3rd Grade Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

There are two response sheets offered, and I prefer to use the one with the simple reading log on top:

How I Use Them in Class

This response sheet is always printed on the back of the menu of the month and sent home in my students' weekly Friday Folders. They are due the following Friday, so it's always a great lesson in goal-setting and ensuring they are not rushing to do it all in one night.

We started the year by doing them in class, then I gradually released them to work on it independently. The menu options change each month, but in a way that only one new option is added each month, so there is the opportunity to stick with the familiar, if they'd like.

The back side of the page is the response sheet I prefer, and on Fridays during our Ketchup & Pickle Time, I will call students back one at a time to glace through their logs, and skim their responses. It's pretty easy to see if and where they skimped on effort, so I have no issues sending them back to add more detail, or give evidence from the text, etc. Love that Ketchup & Pickle Time!

The ever-changing variety of these menus has spruced up our reading responses as a class, not just because of the assortment, but because they also have choice within the menu courses and that is always a very important thing, especially when it comes to homework ;)

Plus, it allows me the chance to read what kids are thinking about their at-home books in a way that far exceed the traditional summary or something like that week after week. I like how this has encompassed some of the familiar elements of at-home reading work, but kicked it up a notch by changing each month.

If you're interested in learning more, be sure to check my TpT Store and download the preview for the August Menu and Response Sheets for FREE!