Notebook Evolution ~ Reading

I've talked before about my reading notebooks, but they went through an evolution just like all the others!

The first year, we had composition books.  I switched to a 3-subject notebook for subsequent years.

In year 1, I made an attempt to have foldables and information.

We wound up using the notebooks for reading responses-which I didn't have very well organized or really graded.

I feel bad for that class-I was experimenting with different things, and not all of them worked out. My style has definitely changed in just a few years (both literally and figuratively! I used to wear higher heels when teaching-now it's super low heels (like less than an inch), flats, and on rare occasions-wedges. I've embraced my shortness :)

The next year is when the revelation occurred. I discovered Nicole Shelby's Reading Notebooks!

That's all I used for reading.

This year, year 3, I've started adding in some of my own things, and having the students do examples as well.

I still use her notebooks as a base, but I'll change up the writing, or add in another page, or example for practice.

Inspired by the blizzard that started it all this winter:)

Nicole Shelby on the right-me on the left!

I'm excited to see how my notebooks will evolve next year!

That's one of my favorite things about teaching-we're always looking for ways to be better, to change it up and to make it more meaningful. Every day, every year is different!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how my notebooks have evolved-it was very interesting to me to lok back and see how they've changed!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Notebook Evolution ~ Math

Looking back, I'll definitely say my use of math notebooks has improved!

When I started doing notebooks, I definitely knew I wanted to do them, but was a little unclear how to go about it.

Then Common Core and Teachers Pay Teachers came along and it got a little easier! :)

But let's take a walk down memory lane...

As you can see, in year 1, I didn't get very far. I used it mostly for our geometry unit.

But last year and this year...

We're actually further along this year than last-even though it looks the opposite! I've started combining pages on the same skills, and just extending the pages numbers in the table of contents.

Let's go back to year 1 for a minute. This year, I was figuring it out as I went. (I was also doing math workshop this year and teaching three lessons a day in an hour period)

I didn't really get into the groove until geometry, which I did in February. I did this whole class, which lent itself for notebooking better.

I did a lot of what I like to call, 'old school foldables'- you know, with construction paper :)

I also sourced a lot of this through the web, but the way our series taught skills was spiral (not that there is anything wrong with that), and it made for a jumbled up notebook-until I threw the series pacing out the window and used it as a resource!

In year 2, I started off with a left learning page-but as I was trying to pilot a new series, the notebook had been left behind (until the end of the year, when I was frantically trying to teach two subjects at once...)

Different between year 3 and year 2

Yeah, that didn't last long. It took my kids too long to set up, when we had to be movin' and groovin'.

In year 2, I also found a wonderful resource from Mrs. C's Classroom, that was almost the answer to all my prayers. 

It's common core aligned, has practice pages for certain skills (which means they can do them independently!)

I used it almost exclusively for year two.

Year 2-trying like crazy to get it all in

Now on year 3, I use...a mix!

I use some of Mrs. C's Classroom (sometimes more for the practice-it turns into a station), some of my own created-with instructions and practice

Me created-I did a lot for the fraction unit-which I'll revise a little for next year!

and some old school foldables

Some Mrs. C's Classroom and old school foldable being friends :)

I've moved from the notebook being more teacher directed to more student learning, and hope to continue that next year. (Boy, do I have big plans for my math block next year...I hope you'll stick around to see if it works out!)

My goal next year is to have math notebooks as one of the stations-and also start using math prompts more (we did a little of that here and there for fractions, but I want more!)

Hopefully, our math notebooks will be a resource my kids can keep and use for years to come-that's my goal, anyway!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Notebook Evolution ~ Social Studies

As I went to do a new notebook entry with my kids, I pulled our the previous year's notebook to check what notes we had done.

I was doing it a little different this year, and me, being somewhat of a teacher hoarder, also had the notebook from the year before last.

I took a look through all the notebooks, and was interested to see how my approach to notebooks have changed, as well as what entries I've kept, modified or just changed all together.

I thought you would enjoy the process! :)

So, welcome to notebook evolution! 

Here are the table of contents-in the same order they're in above!

As you can see, we didn't get very far in year 1. We got a lot further in year 2, and even though we aren't quite done year 3, we'll go just as far or further.

We'll be on the back soon, and will probably go a little further this year-I've added in some entries!

One thing I changed was that this year, I explicitly taught the differences between human and physical features-where in previous years, we had talked about it and mentioned it-this year we did something with it!

That was part of my government unit, which has changed since the first year. We've done a lot more with state maps, characteristics of the state, counties, state symbols and more.

The first year, we used our state text book, and I didn't spend a lot of time on explorers.

Last year, I created an explorer unit, which I changed up a little for this year!

Before, I fit everything about the explorer them onto a two (or three or four) page spread with the students having to fill out a foldable.

This year, I made it a two page spread, with the article on  one side and a graphic organizer on the other.

I combined sets of maps, and we moved those to behind (or in front of in some cases) the articles. The kids still had them, but they were able to have the articles and questions side by side.

You can see the same sort of evolution in the colonial unit.

The first year, we used out textbook again as a resource.

Last year, I incorporated some interactive elements (from which the students had to take notes from), as well as talking about the first settlements.

This year, we started talking about reasons why, moved onto the first settlements, and will start talking about the different colonial roles.

I've also started some doodle notes, where I've had the students draw a picture-that has made sense to them-to represent the written notes we've taken.

You can clearly see the difference between last year and this below-and was the inspiration for the post!

They both have the same information, but I think the kids will remember better this year since we doodled it too.

Next, is my American Revolution unit.

I created the fill in the blank foldables three years ago, and I'll probably use them another year or two (we recertify every three years, and since I have a SS endorsement, I need 30 hours in SS. I'll probably recreate for my next cycle, since that will be easier than trying to find 30 hours of workshops.)

I did make some changes last year-I added a vocab sheet.

And we started coloring in the maps.

Those are my units!

We also complete an Abenaki Lapbooks, and this year I offered the option to the kids (they picked the lapbook.). I kill a few birds with this stone, finding important information, setting a purpose for reading, taking notes, main idea. This is something I will probably keep, because it scaffolds those skills that they'll need for later in their school career.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn