Using Post-Its for Reading Conference Records

I have used a variety of methods to keep track of independent reading conferences over the years.

One of my favorite methods came from Beth Newingham- she's amazing!

I love her use of labels on a clipboard so that she could jot down information quickly and for any child without a huge binder or flipping through a lot of pages- this frustrates me and I think intimidates students. I prefer a more laid-back, listening-in type of independent reading conference.

I used these labels for a while, but holy cow, they got expensive!

While thinking of a solution, I found inspiration from Kristen @ Ladybug's Teacher Files and her tutorial on post-it note printing.

Post-its + Conferring Information=

The numbers next to fluency & comprehension come from our standards-based report cards:
1= Unsatisfactory, 2= Partially Proficient, 3= Proficient, and 4= Advanced

This post-it can keep lots of helpful info on your students and costs way less than labels :) When printing, print this sheet out first. Then, place the post-it notes inside of the squares and send it through again, making sure the sticky side will go in the printer first.

I keep about five sheets ready at any given time- then, I just reuse these five sheets over and over. I try not to transfer the post-its too often, to keep their stickiness. The post-its I found best for this project were the Super Sticky kind:

Click to see these on Amazon.

Then, during my planning, I transfer the post-its over to the student's individual page in my Assessment Binder. Their page is just a piece of cardstock 3-hole punched, so I can collect a lot of post-its throughout the year. These notes give me great insight when it comes to reading groups, parent conferences, and future student conferences.

Would you like a copy of this template? Download it for FREE from Google Docs HERE :)