I recently contacted SNAP! Learning for a demo of their close reading portfolios. My students currently have access at home and at school to Reading A-Z’s RAZ Kids program, and have previously used iStation. While my students are happy to utilize technology in any form during reader’s workshop, I have felt like something has been missing — a focus on reading closely, and reading for deeper meaning!

I had seen a few of my blogging pals chatting about SNAP! Learning’s close reading portfolios and I was intrigued. I liked that students would be led through a series of tasks, and that it was more than just clicking multiple-choice answers like they do currently on RAZ Kids.

Once I got my login for my demo, loading students was a breeze! I used their downloadable Excel spreadsheet to quickly load students in. One feature I really loved off-the-bat was the ability to group my students into their reading groups. This feature tied into the assigning of tasks, which made everything seamless. All told it took me about 20 minutes to setup my class with logins and create initial assignments for each reading group.

As I teach ELL’s, modeling is a MUST. I created a “dummy” account for us to use as a class, and we went through one of the close reading portfolios together on the SmartBoard. This was an AWESOME experience, as it let me see already how students were responding to the open-ended tasks, and gave me some great ideas about how to incorporate this into their daily digital learning.

One thing I really appreciated about the way the close reading portfolio was setup is that it doesn’t rush kids. We didn’t complete the portfolio in a single sitting — we experienced the text the way it should be when reading closely, and really dove in head-first! We took turns typing our answers, which was admittedly a bit of a learning curve for my kiddos that aren’t totally used to typing a significant amount of text.

We practiced logging in and out, and picking back up where we left off. It’s important to me that my kiddos return to a task until it’s completed, rather than just clicking through things randomly (as I’ve seen them do with RAZ Kids). Their time spent with technology should be valuable, not just technology for the sake of it!

After we’d modeled all aspects of the program, I allowed students to use SNAP! during their technology rotations in reader’s workshop. Students were able to use it with a high-level of independence, and while not perfect, their responses signal to me that they are thinking and reading for meaning which was my goal!

As a teacher, the reporting and resource side of the SNAP! products is phenomenal. I love that unknown or tricky words highlighted by students during the first part of their close read show up in their wordlists! This gives me such insight about the academic and tiered vocabulary that my ELL students are still in need of.

I also am in complete and utter LOVE with the guided reading companion lessons for the close reading portfolios. We’re starting life cycles this week, and it just so happens there’s a 2nd/3rd grade portfolio for the life cycle of the butterfly! This text is an ELL-teacher’s dream, as the three-lesson setup complete with cloze notes, vocabulary, and text-feature focus is PERFECT for creating accessibility for your varying ELL levels.

I’m thrilled to be able to use the close reading portfolios and companion lessons the rest of this school year, as there’s so much instruction to be had! I’d highly recommend requesting a demo (click this link here) and seeing for yourself all that this product has to offer!


Disclosure Statement: I was not financially compensated for this post. I was graciously given an opportunity to review this product, and all opinions are my own and based on my direct experience with the product.