An Entire Interactive Notebook

Warning: This is a LONG post, full of a gazillion pictures! 

Everything I read and/or hear about interactive notebooks is people asking "how do I do this?" I cannot stress enough that making interactive notebooks has to work for YOU,  how YOU decide to use them. 

For me, in my opinion, teachers just need to do it. Seriously, it seems cliche' but it's true. 

Do it and then USE them in your classroom. 

That's the most important thing. When we made a foldable about tax, tip and percent and then students asked me, "How do I find percent?", I would say, "Did you look in your binder first?" It was magical!!! 

At the end of the year when students were writing to next years students about what they would need to know to survive sixth grade math, many of them said, "Keep your math binder organized and look at your notes first before asking for help." I thought that was powerful! Of course, I would help my students as needed, but they needed to try on their own first. 

 I want you to see what a "real" notebook looks like from beginning to end. It's not perfect, but I am proud of what my students and I made this year and I can use this to improve. This was my 3rd year using them for 6th grade math and it is the best. I want you to see the failures and the successes.  I took pictures of pages side by side and inside of foldables for you to see. 

ENJOY! 

This was my first day of school activity. It's how students learn about me and how I learn about them. 

 Page 2 is guidelines and expectations. 

Didn't quite get everything filled in. I am going to unit Table of Contents next year.

 These are state reference materials. Every student is allowed to use this on their state test, so we use them all year. They are very comfortable with them before the test. 

Left side: Student work using divisibility rules
Right Side: Divisibility Notes

Left side: Writing in Math!!!!
This one is from Live Love Math
There's a whole set! 

Many foldables are just cut paper and students write everything! 

Some foldables are typed notes and they cut and paste everything.

Left Side: I read a story and students had to write  the integer I described.
We did the right side first for  notes, then left side activity. 

 Left side: After completing the notes on the right side, students completed their own trees.

Yes, page 22 remained blank. I just had to get over it!

 Sometimes things are just worksheets. Sometimes notes are on the left and work on the right. 

Left side: a morning warm up they glued in

 Left side: another warm up they completed after learning about PEMDAS

 Students love taking notes on a paper plate. 

 This was a warm up page. They would glue their warm up each day on this page.

I kept these because I wanted them to know their warm ups were important, not just busy work. 

 Egads! Another blank page!

 The foldable on the left is from Laura Candler 

Page 52 is from 4mula Fun. It's a homework sheet, but I used it in class. 

Great practice and I wanted them to have access to it for converting. 

 Most popular foldable. It's for integer operation rules. We used this A LOT!!! 

At the end of the year when we were practicing integers again, I was able to say, "Look on page 60 for the rules". 

 Page 64-66 are from For the Love of Teaching Math.

I posted about this activity here. 

 Mean, Median, Mode and Range foldable from 4mula Fun 

  Page 73 and 74 were some of the funnest days I taught. 

I got the entire lesson from Math = Love and posted about it here. 

Page 75, I tried a Unit table of Contents and loved it. 

I posted about it here. 

 I posted about these here.

 These pages were not blank for my students. 

When students are absent, I take their notes. 

Sometimes that means, mine don't get completed. 

 Our very last unit was new information we will teach next year, but at the beginning of the year. 

It was kind of a "hodge podge" unit. 

 I have just realized that I never posted about pages 90-93. 

I even found the half written post. 

Guess I will be completing that soon. 

Again, these will be concepts taught at the beginning of the school year. 

I did post about using stickers with my students. 

They loved it and I will definitely be doing it again. 

This was it, our notebook. 

Thanks for making it this far. 

I hope it shows you reality. 

Somethings are great and some are not, but I feel very good about the use of interactive notebooks in my classroom and it is something I will definitely continue using with my students. 

Be sure to check out the July Tried It Tuesday's over at Holly's blog. 

Wordless Wednesday- Student Pranks

Happy Wednesday! 

I was deleting some pictures from my phone and realized I never shared how one of my students tried to scare me with his little friend. 

I reacted, but didn't think it was real, just a small jump. They all loved it!!! 

Have your students ever played a prank on you? 

Currently July

I have wasted June, so I am determined not to waste July. 

Linking up with Farley to get the month started off right! 

Listening: I am such a bad stay at home mom. Summer is hard for all of us. 

Loving: I was without a washing machine for a month and a half. It wasn't horrible at the laundromat, but I am glad to have a new washing machine at home again. 

Thinking: Since we made no plans this summer, I am being super lazy. 

Wanting: No explanation needed, right? 

Needing: I need structure in my life. I better get organized and make this month productive. 

4th plans: My hubby will be off, which will be nice and we'll head over to some friends house and have some fun with them. 

My blogging friend Angela is having a great T-Shirt giveaway, be sure to jump over for a chance to win. 

I finally made a decision

This is my first summer blog post. Seriously?! That is crazy! It's almost July and I am just starting my summer blogging. 

It has been a tough summer, career wise. 

Long story short (hopefully), I was scheduled to move to 7th grade advanced math, but my heart wasn't in it.  I love love love my students and want to move with them, but not teach the content. 

I applied for some other positions and was the first loser for both. That's what my husband calls coming in 2nd place. I was bummed, but whatever, it is what it is. 

Finally, after a good talk with my current principal, I am going to stay where I have been, 

6th grade Advanced math. 

Finally, I feel like I can "get excited" about the upcoming school year. 

Finally, I can start "planning and preparing" for what is ahead. 

And finally, I can get motivated to blog about school again!!! 

What's coming up: 

I reached 400 followers and my blogiversary is coming up which of course means, 

A GIVEAWAY!!!

I have some exciting news coming up soon about that. STAY TUNED!!! 

I also want to share how my interactive notebooks turned out this year. 

Our school is becoming a 1:1 ipad school. I have been to training and there are going to be some big changes with that as well. I am so excited about the possibilities and what we are going to be able to do with our students this next year. 

Plus in July I get to attend CAMT. It's a HUGE Math conference and I am thrilled to be attending. 

Looking forward to a great month, hope you will stick around to read all about it! 

Tried it Tuesday- Reflections on Math Notebooks

Linking up with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper to reflect on using 3 ring binders for my math notebooks this year instead of composition notebooks. 

I liked the composition books, but my main reason for changing was I wanted larger paper. 

Composition Size: 

Binder Size: 

Pros of Binders: 

1. More paper space. 

2. Pages can be removed (this could be a con too though!)

3. When students were absent it was easy to get pages into their notebooks

4. We could add notes to foldable pages 

5. We could include worksheets, homework, assessments, data, etc... 

Cons of Binders: 

1. Binders are open so often, they lose their alignment 

2. Pages fall out (see number 1) 

3. Binders take up more room. I had plenty of space for my six classes though. Students struggled to keep them neat, but space was available. 

4. Binders were too small to hold all the work I had anticipated. I had asked fro 2 inch, but many students brought 1 or 1/2 inch. This really made a difference. 

End of the year teacher binder: 

End of the year student binders: 

This is page 7, not page 1. 

This could have a lot to do with the condition of their notebooks. 

Seriously, this is embarrassing! 

I ask daily for them to put them on the shelf neatly. Of course, that didn't always happen. 

Sometimes it never happened. 

So, I guess the question is what will I use next year? 

Actually, I don't know. It all depends on what supplies we asked our students to bring next year. We are having some changes for next year, so it's a waiting game right now. 

I think the inside is the most important part of the binder anyway. I am really proud of our notebooks this year. I think they were full of useful information and presented in a fun way. 

My students always told me how they liked taking notes because I let them use markers and/or pen. 

I love the simplicity of making them happy. 

Currently-June

I have missed the past few months of Currently's, but wanted to get back on track this month. 

I finally get to join Farley's monthly linky for June. June? WOW! This calendar year is flying by.  

Listening: We are in exam schedules and because most of my students are exempt because they passed their state test, we are just hanging out. I have iPads and such for them, but honestly, it's mostly just chatting. 

Loving: We have 3 more days, I can't say I'll sleep in all summer, but I won't be waking up to an alarm clock until August!!!! 

Thinking: I will probably move up to 7th grade with my students next year. I never imagined this, but I am okay with it. I like these kids, they are good students. There's a hand full of them who I want to strangle, but I think knowing what makes them tick from the beginning of school will actually be helpful. Plus, I already have relationships built with their parents, which is very helpful. 

Wanting: 2 hours and 20 minutes is TOO long to be with my students who do not have to test. To be honest, I am bored. 

Needing: I am ticked off about something and it is affecting me at work. I need to get over it and move on, but I am struggling with it. It is making these last few weeks miserable. Have you ever known what you need to do, but just can't do it? I guess its my own pity party. Seriously? Will I ever grow up? 

Bucket List: I can't jump on the weight loss band wagon again. But, I have to do something. My goal is to walk this summer, I have NO EXCUSES!!!!!  I am starting small, but doable. 

I absolutely must clean out my boys' closets and room. It is ridiculous in there and I am about to throw everything away. We just have too much stuff. No one should have that much stuff. We must down size!!!

Moving to 7th grade means I have to take TWO certification tests. I am NOT happy about this at all. I have spend 20 years in "elementary" and now moving one grade level changes everything. It's expensive and annoying, but if I want to move up, I have to do it. I was expecting just one, when the second one came about, I started rethinking my move. I guess time will tell.