35 Thought Provoking Reading Journal Prompts

Listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

REading Journal Prompts Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to Deepen Your Child’s Book Experience!

Reading journals are a fantastic way to enhance a child’s book experience, encouraging them to think critically, reflect, and engage with the text on a deeper level.
By giving children ideas to concentrate on in their reading, parents and educators can guide children to explore stories more thoroughly and thoughtfully.
Today, we will explore 35 thought-provoking reading journal prompts that will enrich your child’s reading journey.
These prompts are designed to align with Bloom’s Taxonomy, a framework that encourages higher levels of thinking and critical engagement with literature.

Levels.
There are levels to everything.
As a parent, you start with a baby who cannot do much of anything to learn more challenging levels of parenthood.

I may actually argue that the first level of parenthood is owning a pet!

There are levels in learning as well.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom in 1956.
It categorizes cognitive skills into six levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

This taxonomy is designed to promote higher-order thinking by challenging students to not only recall information but also to understand, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate it.

Learning thrills me.
Encouraging a child to “level up” and explore and expand their own boundaries is beyond exciting.
I created these reading journal prompts based on Bloom’s Taxonomy because children are encouraged to engage with texts on a deeper level, fostering critical thinking and a comprehensive understanding of the material.

And…you are able to see the difference between simply asking a question and prompting a thought.

How should you use reading prompts?

1. Create a reading workshop in your home or home classroom.
2. Determine how often you expect your child to read and respond in their reading journals.
3. Create a rubric of sorts that clearly states which kind of responses are expected how often.
   
   I think that a solid paragraph response, once a week, to one of the higher level questions is fabulous.
   The other responses can be quick three sentence statements about what is happening that is surprising, or that your child wants to remember, or that they did or did not like.
   
   
4. Read the journal and the responses to the prompts. Your child wants to know what you think of their observations!
5. Designate a place in the reading journal for both reading responses and vocabulary that is new, difficult, or rarely used by your child.

The Level’s of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
(these are defined using AI)

1. Knowledge (Remembering)

• Description: This is the foundational level, where students recall facts, terms, basic concepts, and answers.
  It involves remembering information exactly as it was learned.
• Helps Students Process: Basic recall of information, such as definitions, lists, and facts. It’s essential for building a foundation upon which deeper understanding can be built.

2. Comprehension (Understanding)

• Description: At this level, students demonstrate an understanding of the material by explaining ideas or concepts. This goes beyond mere recall and involves grasping the meaning of the information.
• Helps Students Process: Interpretation, summarization, and explanation of ideas. Students can explain concepts in their own words and show they understand the underlying principles.

3. Application (Applying)

• Description: Application involves using information in new situations. Students take what they have learned and apply it to solve problems, carry out tasks, or relate it to their own experiences.
• Helps Students Process: Practical use of knowledge. This level requires students to demonstrate how information can be applied to different contexts or problems, showing their ability to use what they’ve learned in real-world scenarios.

4. Analysis (Analyzing)

• Description: Analysis involves breaking down information into parts to explore relationships, patterns, or connections. It requires understanding how parts relate to each other and the whole.
• Helps Students Process: Critical thinking, comparison, and contrast. Students learn to dissect information, evaluate evidence, and identify causes or motives, which deepens their understanding of how things work.

5. Evaluation (Evaluating)

• Description: This level involves making judgments based on criteria and standards. Students assess the value or effectiveness of information, ideas, or solutions.
• Helps Students Process: Critical appraisal and decision-making.
  Students learn to make informed judgments, defend opinions, and assess the credibility or significance of information.

6. Synthesis (Creating)

• Description: Synthesis, now often referred to as “Creating,” is the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. It involves putting together information in a new way by combining elements into a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.
• Helps Students Process: Creativity and innovation. Students synthesize information from various sources to create something new, whether it’s a concept, a product, or a new understanding, demonstrating their ability to generate original ideas.

It is important to note that a higher level in Bloom’s Taxonomy is not necessarily more difficult.
It is also possible to create higher level questions that are at a level that early students can tackle.
Sometimes we get caught up in hierarchies and orders.

Reading Prompts According to Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge:
1. Write a “book blurb” that would appear on the back of the book that would entice readers to read it.

2. Provide three facts about the last chapter you read.

3. List a character you “met” this chapter and a characteristic about them that identifies who they are.

4. What is the setting of the story?

5. Who is your favorite character and why?

6. Create a timeline of the key events in the story.

Comprehension:
1. What are two questions you would ask the main character?

2. Are there any themes or symbols that seem to keep coming up that you do not understand or wonder about?

3. What is the main conflict in the story and how is it resolved?

4. Who is telling the story and why is it important to have the story told from their point of view?

5. Explain why you think a character made a specific decision.

6. Describe an important event from the book and why it is significant.

Application:

1. What advice would you give one of the characters to change a certain outcome?

2. Does the main conflict in the story remind you of anything that has happened in your life?

3. Predict what will happen next, based on what you have read so far.

4. If you could be any character in the story, which one would you be?
How would you handle their situation differently?

5. Create a book cover that visually represents the theme, characters, and conflict in the book.

6. Write a diary entry for one of the characters during a critical moment for them.

Analysis:

1. Compare and contrast two characters.

2. Identify the turning point in the story and explain why it is the pivotal moment.

3. Analyze the structure of story.
Did the author use foreshadowing or flashbacks? Was this effective?

4. What motive did the main character have for doing or behaving the way they did?

5. Did the ending wrap up the story and the characters’ situations in a way that you were satisfied as a reader? Why or why not?

Evaluation:
1. Are there any themes or symbols that the author is using that you do not understand or wonder about?

2. How would this book be different if written 75 years ago?

3. Write a new title. How does your new title represent the book or story?
4. Did the book impact you personally?
5. Think of all of the characters in the story.
Which one is worthy of a sequel? What would it be about?

Creating:
1. Combine characters from this story and characters from another story to create a new tale.
2. Illustrate your favorite scene in the book.
3. Create a new beginning or ending that stays true to the characters.
4. Introduce a new character to the story. What role do they have and how do they affect the story?
5. Rewrite a scene from this story from another character’s point of view.
6. Create a social media profile for a character.
7. Write a poem inspired by the book-it can even be a spoof and funny.

Incorporating reading journal prompts into your child’s literary routine can transform their reading experience from passive to active, fostering a deeper appreciation for literature.
By using these 35 prompts, which are carefully crafted according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, children can develop their critical thinking skills, engage more meaningfully with texts, and explore stories from multiple perspectives.
Encourage your child to start their reading journal today and watch as they grow into more thoughtful and reflective readers.

“A cover is not the book, so open it up and take a look. ‘Cause under the covers one discovers that the king may be a crook! Chapter titles are like signs, and if you read between the lines, you’ll find your first impression was mistook…for a cover is nice, but a cover is not the book!” 

Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns