When I was in University, my reading professor gave us the idea of a one-page basic book report for young readers. She called it the Bare Bones Book Report. Basically, she folded a piece of paper into quarters and had us fill in each quarter with a different aspect of the book (character, plot, setting, and conflict). She only wanted the bare bones of the book. I've used versions of this idea for so many assignments, with elementary, middle, and high school students. Last year, I used it as a note-taking strategy in Grade 8 Social Studies. As my students watched a film about the crisis in the Middle East, they took notes in the four section of the paper with these headings: Important People, Important Places, Vocabulary to Know, Questions I Have. With a Grade 4/5 class, I used it when I was teaching connections in reading. My students made notes about the connections they made in their free choice books. The ...