Interactive Notebooks

I have  been looking at other teacher blogs and considering the Interactive Notebook. Here are just a few......
Everybody is a Genius

All Students can Shine

Bright Concepts 4 Teachers
It seems to be the thing now a days!  My groups have very mixed skills and these notebooks look like a great way to individualize as well.

I think what really helped me understand their purpose was when All Students can Shine said students were building their own text book. I finally got it!

There are basically two ways to set them up, use a spiral type notebook or a binder. Also some teachers use a composition notebook instead of the spiral because the wires can be a pain in the backside. I went with the binder idea, I love binders...they are awesome, help me organize stuff and I want to teach my kids how to organize independently.

Of course, I checked out Pinterest and started a board! There are millions of ideas there!

After searching on Teachers Pay Teachers I decided on Lori Vine's Reading Notebook. Lori is from Conversations in Literacy and she has a lot of great ideas.

I decided to stick with reading and writing. I also wanted the students to build their own notebook so maybe they could better understand how it is organized. I gave them each section and provided a short description of what it was for. Each section is also color coded, so when I said, "This goes in your word work section", I also would add "the purple section".

So here are some pictures of what we are doing with our Interactive Notebooks!

 

The envelope is for those pieces that have been cut out and we ran out of time to glue down.  Thank you again All Students Can Shine!

 

This one is my own creation. You can get it free here.

 

This sort is from "Words Their Way". The chart is with Lori's Interactive Notebook packet.

 

I created this one also. They like the flap!

Lori included sound boxes in her packet and the kids love to work on them! They asked if we can do it everyday! They are in plastic sleeves so they can write and erase easily.

This is from Lori's packet too!

.

The word wheels adapted to the notebook.

 

 

We made pocket pages for the booklets with our reading program.

 

 

I thought this would be so fun and appealing, but honestly the kids weren't that impressed. You just never know!

I plan to use this strategy next year, with some more thought and planning going into it and depending on the needs of my students. Each school year brings new challenges!

What have you done with INBs? Feel free to leave a comment with a link!

Later,

Paula

Linking with ELA .Everyday......Spring Break is already OVER??!!!!!

I cannot believe that Spring Break is coming to an end......I need another week.....it's snowing today for crying out loud! DO OVER....DO OVER!

One of our fellow bloggers has a great idea...let's have a linky party and review our Spring Breaks....I didn't do anything too exciting but I don't mind sharing my boring and relaxing week.

Join us and link with Sandy at   ELA Everyday here.

 

 

 

We moved into our house in September and never put up any curtains, we are off the beaten path so there's no one to LOOK in the windows so who cares....however curtains add something so I hung up some up! I just have a picture of the bathroom window......

( it had a towel tacked over it before)

 

 

 

 

 

I spent more time with my daughters and grand kids! We had a sleep over! Our 4 year old grandchildren are truly modern day kids.....they read, play games and watch youtube on their tablets before going to sleep.

 

 

I wanted to establish some routines...so I took a walk and practiced my guitar each day. I still don't have a good plan for when I go back to school!

 

I got a Fitbit this week and  set it up to motivate me to eat right and be more active.

 

 

 

 

 

Next week is going to be crazy busy, I'll probably work late every day. I decided to have our family St. Pat Dinner early, not everyone could come but it was fun and delicious.

 

 

Made an Irish recipe from Food.com

 

 

and served up some of our family favorites and called them Irish!

 

 

 

My husband and I spent the first few days binge watching The Walking Dead! Of course we haven't watched the current season...so we decided to wait until it is finished and then Netflix it!

 

 

 

and here we are ....the Sunday before the RETURN to school....sigh...someone else had a picture of her "to do" list, mine is not near as neat so I'll spare you a picture of it! The last thing on it.....

LESSON PLANS!

Not done yet.....I'm doing this instead!

But...I must get to it

or

I will be

Freaking out tonight when I'm trying to go to sleep....

 

 

 

My geranium plant has a bloom!

I actually thought it was dead, then little green leaves started popping out,

YEA!

 It is snowing right now.....but I'm sure that it will stop soon, melt and freeze, melt and freeze....until May!

 

 

Please join us at ELA Everyday for this Linking Party!

 

 

Paula

 

Having Fun with Math- Spicing it up for Reluctant Learners!

Note: This is from another session attended at the Alaska Special Ed. Conference 2015 

John Eller shared  his enthusiasm for teaching math with the room at high speed! We had a blast, it was probably the fastest moving session I attended.

He jumped started the session with a ukulele solo of "We're gonna do some math!

( I now want to learn how to play one!)

He moved right into the Magic Circle:

 He asked someone to pick a number 1-31.

He would flip the circles and asked if the number was there and guess their number after

a few questions.

I have to be honest here....I don't know exactly how to do this, but I'm planning on making my own circles and figuring it out!

The slide above has the list of numbers that each circle contains. I'll bet there are some number gurus here that understand how to do it and why it works!

Here's a riddle......

Using dice.......

John recommended teaching students how to use a calculator. When they get to middle and high school, they need to know how to work one.

How do you collect data using games?

Student math journals.

Teacher checklist of skills

He also showed us some books written by Greg Tang.

This session has already changed the way I teach math, I love the math program we are using, but I am adding some spice to it! The kid response is........

It was a great session!

Try some of these ideas and let me know how they go!


Paula

Five for Friday!! Spring Here we come!

Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Wahooooo! A whole week off from that place of learning and structure! Now should I plan my week off or just let it flow? If I don't plan things, nothing will get it done! If I do, it will be a lot like work!

There were many special events this week! Our schedule was off, grades are due, special ed. progress reports due..... and the students were vibrating...you could feel the hummmmmmm when you entered the building!

So the regular stuff wasn't working, who wants to sit through Reading Mastery lessons when  it's almost Spring Break?

We read The First Dog by Jan Brett....

They loved the book, I asked them what happened first, and then next and so on and typed it on the Promethean board as they reported each part.

The next day I  printed out their sentences, folded up some paper, stapled it...and set them loose on it! They did awesome of course!

The NEXT day, we read another book about dogs and a cat....

Danger the Dog Yard Cat

by Libby Riddles

(dog sled musher/ Iditarod Champion extraordinaire and first woman to win the 1049 mile race)

and made these simple and fun puppets.....

(they LOVE puppets)

and of course....Dr. Seuss.....here's our hallway bulletin board.....

It's a collage of Dr. Seuss characters from years past, and a  "Read across America" vintage poster with Garth Brooks! I've had THAT awhile.(he is still awesome!)

Our WINNING DOOR!

Great Day for UP by Dr. Seuss

The idea is to have the students do as much as possible....They cut the grass tufts, they decorated their own balloons and baskets, cut out the clouds, cut out the mini UP signs and of course posed for the pictures!

....with the upcoming break we thought the faces of the adults who work out of our classroom 

belonged on the bed next to the ending quote from the book.

There are so many creative people in our building! Here are some more doors and hallway art. I didn't get upstairs to take pictures so there are some missing.

and now I'm watching the Iditarod ceremonial start on TV! 

It's a good start to Spring Break and it's been snowing for a couple of days! Feels normal.

Later,

Paula