If you fall under the category of people who love reading or you want to make reading your regular habit, then reading logs can be an incredible tool for you to help you make reading a fun activity or hobby. Or perhaps, you are an elementary school teacher who needs to ensure each of your students has nice worksheets that help you track how many pages they read each day so that you can reward and grade them. Or maybe you are busy working parents who want their child to develop a good reading habit. Our reading log templates are designed to help you record the books you have read in the past or are currently reading, summarize the book’s contents, track your reading period, rate the books’ experience, and keep a reading journal.
Reading logs, also known as Reading journals, reading registers, or reading diaries, help readers maintain a dated log and record books they have read or are reading now. A reading journal can be customized in any way, making it colorful and fun. There is no standard format for a reading log, but some standard content must be included. You may choose to add your comments, details of the plot, theme of the story, and reactions to your reading log to remember the books.
A reading journal helps you better comprehend the books you read and allows you to revisit the ideas and thoughts about what happened in each book. It also reminds you of the book’s characters that you loved and were passionate about, which ultimately encourages you to read more novels by the same author.
How to Keep a Log
Review your work:
Read your assignments carefully to be clear of the assignment’s expectations. This especially applies when you are keeping a reading log for school. Your reading log will probably include different types of information depending on your class and individual teacher. If you need any clarifications on your assignments, discuss it with your teacher for better understanding. The most likely items that you will include in your log are:
- The title and author of the book
- The key themes of the book
- Plot developments and major characters of the book
- The dates you read which page
- The amount of time spent reading in a day
- Questions that came up as you read.
- Create a reading journal template with appropriate categories:
You can simply design your reading log in a computer document or a school notebook. Make sure to create a template with sufficient spaces to write about all the necessary categories in your reading log.
Safely store your log:
Store your reading log in a secure place that won’t have it accidentally lost or spilled. If your log is electronically stored, make sure you save it well and have it backed up on an external hard drive or cloud drive.
Read your assigned texts:
If you are keeping a reading diary for school, chances are you have specific texts assigned to you that you must include on your log. In such cases, give yourself a lot of time to finish your reading assignment. Take note that reading a log will take less time than simply reading a text.
Mention your sources:
Typically, most reading log assignments require you to keep a record of bibliographic citations. This allows you to mention your sources properly and refer to your texts in the future. While citing your reading log, be sure to include the following details;
- The title of the book
- The author
- Publication date
- The publisher and their location
- Any other identifying information such as the type of edition used, co-authors, if any, translators.
- Enter all your reading assignments:
You can include books, academic reading, poems, Television shows, or movies in your journal based on your assignments’ limitations. Avoid postponing your reading assignments as you may lose track of your work and forget to include important details.
Buy an appealing personal Journal:
To remain focused and motivated, purchase an attractive or colorful journal that is easy to maintain and write on. Depending on your preference, pick a lined or unlined journal with a plain and simple cover or one that is more colorful and whimsical. Most books and stationery stores have a variety to pick from. If you intend to keep the journal for a very long period of time, try to buy one with archival paper to prevent the pages from yellowing and to degrade over time.
Take notes while reading:
As easy as it may sound, reading is a complicated task. Your thoughts will be ever-changing as you read. Although you may not be able to pen down each of your thoughts, it is advisable that you try to note down your most important observations so that you can remember them. Each reader will want to write down different views of a book, but you can use the following questions to help guide you on what to include in your reading journal.
- What characters are you passionate about, and who is your least favorite characters? Why?
- Have your thoughts about each of the characters changed?
- What do you find thrilling about the plot? Are there any mysteries to solve?
- Are there any unique elements to the author’s style that makes it stand out or fascinates you?
- If you were the author of the book, what would you have changed?
- Does the book help you reflect on what is going on in the world, another country, your country, or history?
- What are your reactions to the book? Does the book remind you of what is going on in your life?
- Reflect on the book once it is complete
Your thoughts about a book may change as you read it. once you have completed reading a book, take some time to reflect on its importance and meaning. Ask yourself what your favorite and least favorite parts of the book, what surprised you, how your thoughts varied from the beginning of the book to the end. Write down these thoughts after 10-15 minutes of reading the book’s last page to preserve these reflections.
Reread your reading journal:
To keep your reading journal useful, continuously reread your observations and reactions. Identify any reading patterns and common themes in your reading to identify how your preferences have grown and changed and how your own life has changed over time.
Free Downloads
Preserve your reading activities and thoughts about what you read by using our free printable reading log templates, which are professionally designed to help you. Our templates are available in PDF format and DOCS format and are compatible with all printers. You only need to customize the reading log template to meet your tastes and requirements and to ensure it covers all the areas of your assignments. Download our free Templates today to help you get started.
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Middle School
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Frequently Asked Questions(FAQS)
Yes, you can! You can use these three methods to create your reading logs using google forms
Google forms + pivot table in google sheets
Microsoft Forms +Excel
Using Flippity’s google sheets progress tracker template
It is a journal where an individual can record his or her reading activities. A reading log entry notes down what you read when you read and how many pages you read. It is a great way to summarize your reading activities.
There are 6 basic alternatives to reading logs. These include:
Book snaps- help students to share what they read on social media pages.
Book blogs- allows students a social experience of what they read with a global audience.
Vlogs- these are short videos that students use to illustrate their understanding and progress of a book.
Passage, Connection, Illustration commonly abbreviated as PCI- this strategy makes reading social, in that people are able to talk about what they read.
Give Me 5 is a simple approach that allows students to pick five quotes from a book that best illustrates the author’s message, insight into a character, or conceptual understanding.
Concept Mapping- this allows readers to connect characters as well as events to wider concepts by synthesizing, evaluating, and organizing their opinions and thoughts. It allows students to make their comprehension past surface level to digging deep into the book’s context.
Immediately you complete reading a book, pick a given project idea, and explain how or why the project idea affects the book you read. You can achieve these through the following steps.
1) Create a diary and write a minimum of five entries that may have been written by a character in the book to indicate that you read and appreciated the book.
2) Give a review of the book using a thumbs up or thumbs down on the book
3) Figure yourself as a character in the book you’ve just read, and write a letter that the character may have written to someone else at any given time in the book.
5) Write your version of the story’s ending; that is, what would you have changed if you were the author.
6) Convert your book, or any important part of the book into a comic book, using comic-style dialogue bubbles and illustrations.
7) Interview the main character of the book using 10-15 questions and note down each of their responses.
It is a collection of notes, reflections, impressions of both your reading and travel. Reading diaries can be used as reference a reference guide to one’s reading and can be read like a memoir.
Conclusion
Regardless of what genre of books you like, the journal habit makes your reading experience extremely fascinating. This is because keeping logs and journaling provides you with a unique chance to maintain your reading habits and track the progress of your pupils or children’s reading habits. A reading log also allows you to take notes on the important aspects and characters of a book, which may be ultimately used for reference at a future point.
