Flip Slips - A During-Reading Approach that Can Be Used for Any Novel!

Are you a reading, language arts, or English teacher that is getting ready to teach a novel? Perhaps you're getting ready to have students do an independent reading assignment? Whatever the case may be, I designed Flip Slips to work with any type of novel. The concept is simple - students have during-reading prompts that help engage them withe assigned reading as well as a section for new vocabulary that they encounter while reading the assignment. One "slip," consisting of the prompt and one vocabulary word, is short and simple. It provides a level of accountability for students to do their reading, while also encouraging students by not being overloaded with 5-10 questions for each chapter.

Here's a quick run-through of how Flip Slips can be used in the classroom:

1.) This item has 1 cover page (with a space for notes), 1 directions page (with another space for notes), and 6 unique pages, each of which contain 2 different columns, having one response idea and one space for new vocabulary. With those pages alone, you have enough pages to assign up to twelve different chapters and/or page ranges. If the book you’re going to read has more than 12 chapters, or you’re going to break it into more than 12 reading assignments for the Flip Slips, just make additional copies of the 6 available pages and provide students with additional copies to use.
2.) I have found, from my own classroom, that randomizing the order of the different response pages is a great way to involve students in discussion. If one student has a response he had to do regarding a decision a character made, while another student had to write about a prediction, a think-pair-share would allow for students to think about new ideas that they might not have had to do for their own assignment, or it could lead to a stronger whole-class discussion, as well. For my classroom, the best way to randomize things is to have students come up and take sheets from a table in the front of the room and then tell them to put the pages into any order, as long as they’re all facing the same way. Students like this ownership and they like knowing that their response requirements are going to be different than most of their classroom peers. Once students have the pages needed, have them add the cover sheet and the direction sheet (in that order) on top of their responses and then have them simply fold the papers over to make a “slim” or “hot-dog” page orientation book. I then come around and staple them to keep things more organized.
3.) When using Flip Slips, I don’t check to see that the work is done every day for a grade. Rather, I announce and keep required “checks” for students when I go around the room to each student’s desk to make sure they have completed the required chapters/assignments up through that point in time.

I encourage you to take a look the cover items as well as the preview file for a better understanding of what the Flip Slip and a completed book might look like. Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have, as well.