Reading Response Letter for Guided Reading

This assignment is very important and is for a test grade.
Students are to write a response letter to their guided reading book.
The first draft is due Monday.
The final draft is due Tuesday.
I suggest they type the letter so it is easy to make changes.

This letter is more involved than previous letters. It has three parts:
1. Identify main ideas and important details and interpret the meaning of the book.
2. Make connections between the characters and other texts, experiences, issues or events in the community and the world.
3. Examine the author's ideas, writing skills, and techniques in order to evaluate the selection.

The students have a full rubric, but here is the rubric for the three parts in order to get a 3:

Section 1:
The responsetells what the selection is about (main ideas) with details about plot, setting and characters.
Section 2:
The response:
•shows an understanding of what the author indirectly or subtly states about the characters.
•draws conclusions about events and characters and predicts future events based on some evidence from the characters.
•makes connections between the characters and the reader’s experiences.
•relates the characters and events contained in a characters to other texts, movies, television, music, etc. with some explanation.
•relates the characters to things happening in the community or world at large, using some examples.
Section 3:
The response:
•identifies the author’s purpose and provides some explanation of the techniques the author uses to accomplish that purpose.
•provides a basic explanation of how character, plot, and setting contribute to the effectiveness of the selection.
•uses some evidence from the text to evaluate the author’s skill and the selection’s theme(s).