Quadrilaterals

We finished up playing with squares and rectangles last week, and I had one of the lightbulb moments myself (of course, it happened right before the lesson, so while the kids were finishing up work I quickly prepped :)

We had started out the day before by making a quadrilateral tree and doing some math notebook stations (this also gave me a great idea on who had it and who didn't-since I was available to float)

I pull most of my math notebook entries from here.

The next day (my brilliant idea :), I cut out shapes and we wrote the properties of each one on it!

I color coded the different quadrilateral so we could tell the shapes apart.

We're storing them in our notebook with a half an envelope (I sealed it and then cut it down the middle-instant pocket! Plus, it saves on envelopes.)

Then, I sent them off to do an activity in their math book with partners.

This is the teacher edition-they don't get to have the answers :)

I loved seeing how they organized their information!

It was so cool to see how different groups worked it out together.

Plus, they all did a super job on this standard-and a fun resource to check when they forget!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

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

No Worksheet Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

I'm linking up with Primary Chalkboard for their No Worksheet Wednesday linky!

This year, I've been a lot more thoughtful about the work I am assigning to my students-trying to make it more rigorous/thoughtful for them, as well as cutting down on the amount of work I have to grade!

One of my favorite things that I have done (and refined from previous years!) was my Reading Notebooks.

Kids record their responses to reading, task cards and other things in their middle section-totally cutting out worksheets altogether!

Plus, there is plenty of space for them to respond and show their thinking-a must in my class!

Of course, we set everything up with a table of contents.

I've taught them many different ways to respond...sometimes I let them pick, and sometimes I want to see a specific skill.

They are graded-but I've set up quick, easy labels to just pop in-much easier than grading all those papers!

Today, we focused on Story Mountain...allowing some drawing in there!

Definitely something I'll continue next year-I love the depth of thinking I see with this!

(You can do these with guided reading groups too-each of my kids have their own notebook! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Reading Notebooks

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has settled into a nice new routine at school. :)

I wanted to share today how I set up and use reading notebooks in my class. We are a notebook based class in a lot of subjects (Social Studies-we use a lot!, Math-not so much-still trying to figure this one out with a math program!, Mentor Sentences/Language, and a Numbers Notebook!).

Let me preface this by saying that these are a work in progress. They look different from what I did last year, and I'm sure that next year they'll look different again. However, they are getting better each year! ;)


On their supply list for school, I have each student get a 3 subject notebook. I always pick up a couple extra in case someone doesn't have it-or I get a new student in the middle of the year! (The new student will just pick up where we left off-I won't have them go back and redo entries-although that certainly is an option)

Some kids can't find a 3-subject and pick up a 5-subject-that's fine too.

Our 3 sections in our notebooks are Reading Notes, 40 Book Challenge/Reader Response and Word Study/Vocab. You might find that you need a different 3 sections-but I've found that this works really well for me.

One thing I added this year was a set of notebook expectations, as well as grading their notebooks. We spend a lot of time in these, and it's also a good indicator of how well they are paying attention while we work in them.

Notebook expectations are clearly laid out and are the same for every notebook. Students have a label in their front cover to remind them of the criteria.

I will say that I am very picky when I grade these-since everything is laid out, and we do a lot of entries together, it does have to be complete to get a 3-and we've talked about where most kids missed their points. They can't say I didn't warn them-since it's clearly communicated in their notebooks for them to refer to!

I used 2 by 4 Avery Shipping Labels.

All sections must start with a table of contents-otherwise, where else could they find what they need?! :)

Our first section is where we take our notes on the different skills.

I primarily use Nicole Shelby's Reading Notebook for this. Sometimes, I'll make additions to the pages, so the students have an example to go by.

Our most recent skill

Nicole Shelby's contribution

My addition-so the kids know how to set it up!

We usually do this section together as a whole class. I usually do it towards the middle or end of a skill (a little like a review), so the students help me fill things in (I just write what they say).

I do not introduce a skill using this (although you could certain do so), but will sometimes use it as an additional teaching lesson after I have introduced it (this is what we did for synthesizing-our notebook entry was day 2 or 3).

Our next section is all about our 40 book challenge and our reader responses.

You can read a little more how I set this section up here and here.

The first half of this section is all about our 40 book challenge-although we are doing a little iffy with it-that's one thing I'll work on improving for next year.

The next part of this section is all about the reader responses.

I've taught the kids different ways they can respond to writing, and we have little templates in our notebooks.

Usually, I let students choose what book to use when responding (and have them focus on a certain skill-like summarize the chapter, what do you think the theme is, etc.), but sometimes I will give them the text to respond to (a Scholastic News, a story from our basal, task card, etc.).

We all used the Grinch for this one

They picked their own story

They used a Scholastic News-but had a choice of which article

Reader responses are graded-using my handy dandy labels!

I'll often write little notes on how they could improve (or what they forgot), and color in the hearts for things they need to focus on.

Our last section is our Word Study/Vocab section.

In past years, I've used Laura Candler's vocab foldable, but I'm doing things a little differently this year (and will continue to improve on it for next year)

The first part of this section is where we work on our root words, meanings and examples.

I've used the Brown Bag Teacher's Greek and Latin Root of the Week for this.

Next, we work on prefixes and suffixes.

They get one root, one prefix and one suffix a week as part of their spelling test. They need to know how to spell it, as well as the meaning (and they need both to get the point!). We gradually worked up to have all three- we did the first two months with just the root, in November we added a prefix, and we added the suffix in December.

The last part of this section is the vocab. This comes from our reading series (Literacy by Design), and I'll admit that we've done kind of stinky with this part-something to work on!

Hmmm-this student wasn't paying complete attention-characteristic is spelled wrong!

That's our reading notebook! We are definitely using it more than last year, and I can't wait to see the improvements for next year.

This is a good system for us-I like to set it up as a resource that the kids could keep and use in future years-as well as seeing some examples of their work. They certainly enjoy working on them in class!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn