A Literature Notebook for Common Core and a FREEBIE

Oh me, oh my!  How to teach those darn common core "Reading Literature" standards?  They are so hard, aren't they?  I know it is supposed to be a good thing to teach elementary kids to "do" close reading, but it is really challenging as a teacher.

I decided to start with an "interactive" notebook to introduce the standards to my students and to put the vocab (central message, key details, character motivations, literal, non-literal, etc) into their little ears.  I created notebook pages that simply explain each of the standards and the vocabulary necessary to understand the standards.  Some of them I had to break into several notebook pages...because some of those things encompass several skills.  Then I added a partner page where we can try out the strategy together, using a read-aloud.  Here is an example of the notebook pages we added for "Text-Based Questions" (R.L. 3.1).

When we did these pages, I used the book The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin.  (I wish I was one of those bloggers who remembered to take photos of the examples we did in class, but I'm not that organized...maybe someday....sigh).  The book worked great for talking about literal vs. non-literal questions.  On the "Try It" page I wrote a non-literal question from the book for the kiddos to answer and provide "text-based evidence".

Of course they got the idea right away!  NOT!  Actually they need a lot of practice answering those non-literal questions and providing evidence to support their claims (yikes).  Soooo.....I created some additional graphic organizer pages that could be used for more practice.  The great thing is that these organizers can be used with any book and can be used to revisit the skill/strategy throughout the school year.  Of course....your kids will probably get it the FIRST TIME so you won't need these..right?  LOL!

Here is an example of the graphic organizers that go with the notebook pages shown above related to Text-Based Questions (R.L. 3.1).  Click HERE to download them for FREE! 

As I introduce each of these standards I am mostly using folktales, fables and myths as the mentor texts/read-alouds, since that is the type of text specifically referred to in the Common Core.  We have read several different versions of Cinderella:

And Red Riding Hood

Some others we've read:

 Not so sure about Greek Mythology and third graders (pretty scary stuff and a bit riské).  But if common core says its okay...well, it must be then, right?

My Reading Literature Reference Notebook PLUS (including the graphic organizers) is available in my TpT store  It is a work in progress, and will be updated as I use my third graders as guinea pigs!

Thank you for stopping by....I would love to hear how you are addressing the RL standards!  Happy Weekend!