Interactive Notebooks

Since December I have been trying to have my students create interactive pages in their science notebooks. I have not wanted to spend a lot of paper and copies on making them cool foldable or pre printed pages each week, so often have tried to design simpler foldables using the actual pages in their notebooks.

Some students have been doing wonderful jobs creating colorful, neatly done pages each week, taking obvious pride in their work. Others forget on a regular basis to even bring their notebooks to class each day, so make sloppy entries on loose lined paper, that they often lose before they can get them taped into their notebooks.

But this is year one, and I do feel that many students are trying harder to keep their notebooks looking wonderful, and they see the benefit of having those notes and information available to study from and to use on formative tests. So I will keep on 'keeping on' for the future.

I have plans to attend a training on notebooks next month, and a math teacher at school who has taken trainings in the past is going to keep a sample notebook from one of her students for me to use as an idea guide for next year! That I am excited about as she has been an encouragement this year sharing some of the things she has her 8th grade math students do each week in their notebooks.