Interactive Notebook 101

I LOVE using interactive notebooks with my students, but last year, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing.  Then it hit me.  We just sort of jumped into notebooking, but I never took the time to lay out what notebooking really was.  I neglected to explicitly teach the HOW and the WHY to my students.  Although I do feel like my students worked well with their interactive notebooks, I can already tell that my newest batch of kiddos might need a little more direct instruction and more of an explanation of why we are doing what we are doing.  So, I sat down and plugged away, and now I cannot wait to launch interactive notebooks with my kiddos this week!  This bundle includes a variety of interactive notebook templates to help lay the foundation... educate parents about the process... and it even includes teacher PD components to deepen your understanding. I'd like to introduce you to Interactive Notebook 101. 

I'm starting off tomorrow with the following page.  I am going to have my kiddos glue the header to the page, then fill out a KWL about interactive notebooks. (Small note: the templates are in black and white and color.  I just used color for my examples because I didn't feel like eating up more time with crayons in hand.  Yep, I am a lazy pants.)

 

The next template allows my students to sift through the vocabulary piece. They will record "interactive notebook", the definition, and a sketch of what this looks like.

In our classroom, we are always breaking apart words to look at roots and affixes.  So, I am presenting the root "inter-" for analysis.  The kiddos will record the meaning of the root and the meaning of the word "interactive."  I will have them highlight the root and discuss.

Now, this part is a good one.  I outline this on slides as well... but I want kids, parents, and administrators to realize why we are doing what we do.  This is NOT busy work.  When done purposefully, it is anything but.  So, we are going to take notes and explicitly spell it out from the beginning.  I am super excited about this piece.

We will also be covering some organizational tips and creating an accordion of possible uses.

This foldable will be used to take notes on how we take notes and refer back to them to improve our understanding, refresh our memory, and build on what we already know.

This photo shows what it looks like when it's folded.  You can also see a questioning foldable to stop and give students a chance to process the information and check for understanding.

This pocket illustrates the connection between all of the multiple intelligences (that we refer to in class as types of smartness), and how it all connects to interactive notebooking.  It also provides a great way to share this information (again) with parents and administrators.  I am all about transparency and supporting my curricular decisions.  Plus, it's good practice with a pocket too! 

This flower foldable is ideal for listing out types of templates.  You can list more than one on a petal.

Although not totally comprehensive, I included four-square foldables for several different templates.  I don't think I will be folding them though.  I plan on having my students glue them  just like this.  Since I don't have clip art for every foldable every created, I have included a blank template where you can have your kiddos write and draw the template.

Of course, I love my Jot Spots, so I created one for this pack too.  I want to start introducing them now so that students get the hang of it from the beginning.  I love how they provide thinking stems and a place for student sticky notes.

And there you have it... in a nutshell.  Interactive Notebook 101 is a simple, kid-friendly way to explicitly introduce interactive notebooks to your students. Words cannot adequately describe how psyched I am to use this with my students this week.  I just know it's going to help us be even more successful and iron out this routine before we get to the heavy lifting of notebooking to address the standards!  Have a Happy Labor Day!!!!