Create a Reading and Writing Handbook

Let’s create a resource we can use all year long! Like a dictionary, textbook, or encyclopedia, your reading and writing handbook will store the information you might need in the near or distant future. 

What’s different about this handbook is you’re the writer! 

This lesson will help you set up your handbook. Once it’s set up, you’ll just need to add what you are learning about reading and writing. Not only will adding the information help you remember it, but your notes will also serve as a guide. 

Everything you’ll need is listed in this post. If you’d prefer a video lesson, you’ll find it below as well. 

Materials

  • Spiral notebook or binder with loose-leaf paper
  • Pen or pencil
  • Piece of computer paper or art paper for the cover
  • Markers, colored pencils, stickers, or anything you want to use to embellish your cover. 

Steps to Creating Your Reading and Writing Handbook

1. Table of Contents
Open your notebook and turn to the first page. At the top of the page, write Table of Contents. Like any resource book, our handbook needs to help us know where to find the information we’re looking for. Anytime you add something to your Reading and Writing Handbook, be sure to also add the title of the lesson to your Table of Contents and include a page number.

Your Table of Contents might fill up this year, so turn your page over and write Table of Contents, and then turn to the next page and write Table of Contents, and over to the back of that page and write it again. You now have four pages you can fill with titles.

Add page numbers 1-4 to the bottom of those pages. The back of pages get page numbers too.

2. Design the Cover
While optional, the cover of your Reading and Writing Handbook can be a lot of fun to make. I suggest putting the words Reading and Writing Handbook on the cover with your name.

The rest is up to you. You might use stickers, drawings, doodles, or words that relate to things you enjoy or are related to reading and writing. You could also put the titles of the books you’ll be reading this year or add them after you finish a book.  You could also include things you hope you learn about or would like to write about.