Monday, October 28, 2013

Interactive Notebooks- Managing New Students

It's October 28th? wow! October has flown by for me. I knew it would, we had a five day vacation in the middle due to my husband's youngest sister getting married. I knew that would make this month fly by. 

And it has, I am still trying not to drown in everything we have going on and keeping up at work. 

It's time for 4mula Fun's Interactive Notebook Linky party. 

Since it's Monday and my life revolves around Math, I am linking up with I Heart Recess for her new linky party as well. 



Interactive Notebooks: This is the one thing I am still keeping up with. We use our notebooks daily. I couldn't teach with out them. 

I have noticed that Jennifer, from 4mula Fun has talked about a few things this past month, that I deal with regularly. 

First, she talked about what to do when new kids come in and secondly, she talked about foldables vs. taking notes. 

This past week, we moved 7 students from regular math classes to my AP classes. The other teachers use math notebooks, but not like I do. So, they have come in and their notebooks are not in the same order as everyone. Last year, this would have driven me crazy. This year, I am trying to breathe and I am letting it go. 
We created a page this week and we labeled it "page 37". I told the new students, "do the same, no matter what your notebook says". It just made it easier. 

I also got a new student this week from a local private school. I did the same with her. Just start where we are and go from there. 

I have the "guts" from the beginning set aside for new students. Things like, the table of content pages, the title page, etc.. New students come in and I give them the packet to put in their notebook. 

The other thing that helps is creating extra foldables throughout the day and saving them. 

I teach 6 classes. I only need one example for my notebook. if students are absent, I am making theirs while giving instructions. But, when students aren't absent, I just have extras. This year I created a folder where I store them. I can give them to new students as they come in. 


This week, we made this page: 


There was one students absent so I have 4 extras. I put them in the folder and will have them ready if needed. 

Jennifer also wrote a really great post about note taking. I feel the same way as she does. These ARE my notes. I try creating "note taking" in ways that they will remember it. For the rest of the year, we will refer to this paper plate so students can remember diameter and radius. It works and its way more fun that boring vocabulary words and sentences. As a side note, my students have a vocabulary section and these words are included. 

Hope this is helpful! Go link up and share what you do!  










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2 comments:

  1. Hi, Elizabeth. I love your blog! I am an elementary math interventionist and discovered you via a google search for converting rational numbers. I love your rendition-it is so colorful! You referred back to liveteachcreate.com but I couldn't find the foldable on their site. Anyway, I finally gave up and created a notebook foldable master for duplication. If you would like a copy of it, just e-mail me at cawest@wayesville.k12.mo.us and I'll send it your way. Thanks again for posting pictures of your foldables and interactive note taking. They are just wonderful!

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  2. LOVE LOVE LOVE your foldables! I especially love how you create a few extras for new kids...such a great idea!

    Thanks for linking up! Great post!
    Jess

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