Reading Journals – All About Me Pages

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea and think I’m some sort of expert on how to get kids to read.  I have no clue how to do that.  I wasn’t what you’d call a reader growing up.  Have I told you that? Well, that’s a story for another day.

I have learned a little trick from a lady named Laura Robb. She wrote a book called Teaching Reading in Middle School that I devoured when I was teaching. Lots of useful stuff in that book, and one of them was having students write “All About Me” letters.  After I read her book, this was the first assignment I had my students complete.  I modeled the skill with my own letter first, and then the kids followed suit.  I remember one student said, “Really? You want us to just, you know, like, write about ourselves for two pages?”

“That’s exactly what I want you to do,” I told her.  And the students, thinking they got away with the easiest teacher in all the land, got to work.  What they didn’t know is that having them tell me something about themselves is a great way for me to help them choose what they might like to read.

Thus, the All About Me Page in my Summer Reading Journal. I tried to cater it for younger children because my kiddos are younger. (Although both seem to talk about as much as middle schoolers and oh the sass these days! Another story for another day.) But I made sure to include this page up front so hopefully parents can have a chance to talk with their kids about it and in turn, think of some stories that have to do with some of their interests.

Here’s Harper working on her page:

And here’s  my friend’s daughter Naomi working on her page. Check out that pen. We have one at our house, too. I don’t think you can have girls and not have that pen.

I helped Harper fill out some of her answers, but here is what her All About Me Page looks like:

And here’s Naomi’s:

I love their answers, just like I loved reading the letters from my former students.  They’re hilarious and honest and filled with great opportunities to find stories that deal with things they like and maybe even what they don’t like.

How about Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander for the girl who finds jumping jacks and the other who finds writing hard? (Naomi’s mother would like the readers to know that in preschool, there was no homework given out, and I would like you to know that there was not a subject in Harper’s preschool called, “Getting a lot of exercise,” nor do I remember her teacher telling us that they would begin a study on the jumping jack.) This adorable story about a little guy who wants to write, “Happy Birthday” to his principal but can’t because he gets the letters mixed up, shows children that yes, there are things in life that are hard but we can all always ask for help. That’s what part of being in school is all about.

Because wouldn’t it be great if Naomi and Harper read that book, saw themselves in the character who struggles, and like that character, attempted to try something again and again until they got it?

I think that’s one of the best parts about reading: walking into a story thinking you have an idea about yourself and learning that there’s more to you then you realized.

I hope the All About Me pages prompt some good ideas for stories to search for.  And if you’re interested in a Summer Reading Journal for your own child, click here to get more information.