All About Tennessee Interactive Notebook Lesson

Hey, Guys! Today is a lesson about Tennessee and boy do we have a lot of ground to cover.  In 5th grade, before the state standards changed, students had to know about the 3 Grand Divisions of Tennessee.  5th-grade teachers are no longer required to teach on that topic.  However, students are required to know Civil War battles, especially the ones that occurred in Tennessee.  Well, if I don't teach it, then how will they know places such as the capital of Tennessee, the major cities, the rivers, etc.  So I use this opportunity to teach students about Tennessee.  As a teacher, I feel that geography is an important component of Social Studies, even if the state disagrees and I know some teachers at lower grade levels do not even teach Social Studies at all.  Social Studies has taken a back seat to Reading and Mathematics.  That just makes me so sad!  In order to perk up my spirits, let's get started on the first lesson that will go in the 5th-grade Social Studies interactive journal.  I start out with where Tennessee is in the United States.  I swear I am not lying when I say I have students who do not know where the State of Tennessee is located. Once again sad!  So I use this time to start big and get small.  For this activity, we make a BrainPop book.  This is a fun research project that fits nicely in the notebook.  You will have to guide the students on what you want them to research. I like this activity because you can differentiate it to the level of your students.  I will show you what I have the students do and then you can take it from there.  This is what the front page of the book looks like.

I love using BrainPOP in the classroom and the kids love guessing Tim's shirt decorations after I give them the topic.  So in the tradition of Tim, I let the kids decorate his shirt to represent what the book will be about.  Here is my version:

     After students decorate his shirt, we move to the next page which is the first page inside.  On this page (page 1), we have a map of the United States.  Students will color in the state of Tennessee.  In addition,  on page two, I have some questions they must find on the internet such as in what order Tennessee joined the United States and the date.

 Remember we are getting smaller, so page 3 is going to be the 3 Grand Divisions of Tennessee.  Students will have to draw the Shape of Tennessee, divide it, and label it.

  Page 4 will consist of facts about the 3 grand divisions of Tennessee.

 Page 5 is the six physical regions of Tennessee. Students are required to write facts about each region on page 6.  I use Tennessee Bill from the Tennessee History website.  He has a video and does a walk across Tennessee and explains each physical region.  Students complete a map labeling the six physical regions as they watch the video.   He tries to be funny and the kids love him.  Just a quick note, when I watch any short videos (10 minutes or less )  we watch first and listen and then watch again for note taking purposes.  Yes, this does take a little more time but I swear by this method.  On page 7, students color in a map of the 95 counties in Tennessee.  I think this is one important map because lots of Civil War battles were fought in Tennessee and our textbook mentions the counties.  Students look at me all the time and say "Where is that?"  Again, geography equals sadness!  I make them point an arrow to the county in which we live.
Next page, consists of the State Flag.  Lots of times, students think the Rebel Flag is our state flag.  NO!  Students research the flag and write a short summary about what they learned from their research.
After the flag report, I have students design a license plate to represent our state.  It can have the state bird, the state tree, the state bug, the state fish, ect. You can even add your own pages and have the students write about the picture.  They are learning to do research and I find that most students that come from the lower grades have never done research.   This license plate is totally their creation.  They can draw and label the pictures, print them off the internet, use pictures of magazines but it has to be in color.

After the license plate, they must write about each item they placed on the license plate.  This will fill the next pages (one page per item).  I require a minimum of five items but they can do more if they choose to do so.  If you do not want to do a license plate, you can have your students design a stamp with the same requirements.  I have done both.  I even let them do a poster once.

After they have covered the State of Tennessee official symbols , the next part of the book is dedicated to important people in Tennessee.  Students have to know a great deal of people in the Civil War especially the ones from Tennessee.  I give the students a list of the the people and they can pick who they want to do.  They must do a minimum of six.  Each page will consist of the person's name at the top, a picture of the person, and a brief bio telling about them and why they are important to Tennessee. 

On the very last page of the book,  I have the students paste a rubric and a checklist. They are encouraged to check off the list to make sure they have done everything correctly before I grade it.  Students glue this in their journal and have the journal in to be graded.  I pick 10 random students each day to hand in their journals for grading.  This way I am not overwhelmed with 100 journals to grade at any given time.

So now your students know where in the world Tennessee is located and everything the state has to offer.  This project makes a great author night for parents as well.  Ta-dah!  Your students now know a little something about Tennessee.  See you next time for a 6th grade World History  introduction lesson for the interactive notebook.

Social Studies Interactive Notebook Set-up

So, I promised you Science AND Social Studies interactive journals.  Well,  I don't want to disappoint so today's blog is dedicated to Social Studies journals.  Because I teach both 5th and 6th grade, I will show you how I do both of my journals.  Let's start with the 5th grade journal.  In Tennessee, 5th graders start with the beginning of the Civil War and move into the present.  However, over half of the standardized test is all about the Civil War.  So the whole first part of the journal is usually nothing but Civil War such as the battles, the differences between North and South, and so on.  I begin setting up my Social Studies journals just like the Science journals.  The Students decorate the cover with topics they will be studying about for the year.  I give them the list of the topics and let them go to our computer lab and find clip art to decorate it.  They usually end up with something similar to this:

I used Mr. Donn clipart.  I love his site!  If you have not checked it out, you should go right now!  I am serious, he does a great job covering Social Studies and the site is safe for students.  I usually create some webquests using his site or you can use his site for mini lessons.  It is all written in an easy to read format for students and gets right to the point.  I actually use it more for  6th grade because they study World History, but he has plenty of American History on there as well.  Lol, sorry I got side tracked, he just has an awesome website.  Okay, now back to the journal.  If you look back at the first few blogs, I showed you how to put in a book mark with ribbon, an envelope to keep loose journal items, a plickers symbol for quick assessments, a table of contents, masking tape to mark the spine, and number the pages.   The only thing difference between the Social Studies and Science journal set-up is the rubric.  In fact, since students have done the Science journal first, setting up the social studies journal is a breeze and takes less time. Here are some of the pictures from the set-up:
 
1.  Number all of the pages in the journal.

2.  Glue in the envelope on the back cover and tape in your bookmark ribbon.

 

3.  Cut out the rubrics and paste them in the journal. I made four rubrics since our school is on a nine week grading period.

 

 

4. Glue in your puzzle partner worksheet.

5.  Glue in your plicker for quick social studies assessments or ticket out the door.

6. Staple in your table of contents. (I stacked five table of contents on top of each other.)

7.  Lastly, I glue in a copy of the state standards so students will know what they will be learning this year. (Sorry, I will add the picture later)

8.  You have just finished setting up the journal and ready to get your social studies groove on!!!!

In my next blog, I will be doing a starter lesson for World History and American History.  Until next time, I hope you have a great day!

What is a Scientist?

Whew!  Set-up of the journal is now complete and it is time to have some fun!!! The first part of the journal is going to deal with the Scientific Method. I teach that at the first of the year.  My school is lucky enough to have a 5th grade and 6th grade well stocked Science lab.  The kids absolutely love going to the lab.  So, to generate excited, I always start with a Spongebob Safety Lab Booklet. It is a great little mini lesson on how to conduct ourselves in the lab.    We do this activity in the lab so I can provide examples for students and show them the lab equipment. Students underline all of the mistakes that Spongebob and his friends make in the science lab.   The Spongebob Safety lab booklet can be downloaded from this link: http://sciencespot.net/Media/scimthdsafety.pdf

After we read through the booklet together, we discuss lab tools.  I give the students a cut and paste lab equipment worksheet.  We complete a foldable on lab equipment together. This year I got this idea from pinterest to make the foldable into a lab coat.  It turned out super cute!

When we return from the lab, I have an assignment on the board.  I call this their bell work and it gets them to start working the moment they enter the classroom.  Students enter the classroom and open their journal to the next page.  They draw a light bulb, and write the standard at the top of the page and the essential question and the bottom of the page.  It looks like this:

After the students draw their light bulb, write the standard, and essential question, we begin our lesson.  Today's lesson is called "What is a Scientist?"  I start off the lesson with a brainstorming session.  We talk about how a scientist thinks and words that a scientist might use.  We create a bubble word wall in our journal.  I make it a contest to see who can come up with the most words.  I usually give the students about 10 minutes to write down their words.  Afterwards, we create a giant poster of the words they came up with and put in their journal.  Their journals usually look like this:

So now we are thinking like a scientist, I move into the next part of the lesson.  I tell my students to close their eyes and imagine what a scientist looks like.  I tell them to look around and see where the scientist is and what they are doing.  Now, I tell them to open their eyes.  I ask students to share what they imagined when their eyes were closed.  Most students see a crazy  white-haired man in a lab coat.  His lab is full of bubbly potions and he is mixing more potions.  I ask my students the following questions:  Did anyone see a woman scientist?  An African American scientist?  A Scientist with a disability?  An Indian scientist? An Asian scientist?  Did anyone see a scientist in another place besides a lab? What about a classroom?  Most students will say no but then they start to realize my point.  My point is everyone is a scientist.  I tell my students that this year everyone is a scientist. We all wonder about things in the universe and every time we say the words "I wonder," we are being a scientist.  Some students are surprised to find that they are scientist and find it very cool.  I tell them to close their eyes again and imagine themselves as a scientist.  I tell them to pay close attention to where they are and what they are doing.  I give them a couple of minutes and tell them to open their eyes.  I give them a slip of paper with instructions. The instructions tell them to draw themselves as a scientist.  Here is my examples from previous years:  I am a Scientist who teaches about Science!  My lab is the classroom.

I give students time to work on their drawing in class.  A few minutes before the bell rings, I tell students to go back and write inside their light bulb the answer to the essential question.  I want them to generate their own definition of a scientist.  I give them a light bulb stamp if they come up with a good answer.  I always end the lesson with them writing the answer to the essential question.  It is a great exit ticket!  Tah-dah, that is the end of this lesson.  Join me next time for the blog lesson, "What is the Scientific Method?"  Have a happy day!

Set-up is complete!

We are almost done!  Just a couple of more things to add before we go into actually activities with the journal.  Yesterday, we placed the "road map" aka state standards, our plicker for quick assessments, and our puzzle partners sheet.  Today, we are going to finish with information that aids students.  At the first of the year, I send home a classroom expectation sheet for students AND parents to sign. They return the classroom expectations sheet to me and I keep it in a special file. It holds everyone accountable and I LOVE it! I think this has been my biggest lifesaver!  When parents send you emails with disagreements on a particular topic, you can refer them back to the classroom expectation contract.  I will never stray away from this protocol.  So, here is a copy of my classroom expectations.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oq1Zbe-VqKOnLtpmHiDPDCqaW5qCA86PN5hriOD6cqw/edit?usp=sharing

This works for me.  You may use it however you would like.  You are free to make changes to it.  If you find something that works better or that I forgot something, just comment below.

Next, we need a table of contents.  In the past, I have had students glue several pages in their journal dedicated to the table of contents.  I have had them just label the tops of pages as table of contents, but I always like to give them printed versions.  It just makes the notebook look better in my opinion. Remember, you have to get kids to buy into the interactive notebook idea.  By making it attractive, it makes kids want to share and be creative.   This year, I got this idea from Pinterest.  You take all of the table of contents and put them in a stack and staple them.  After stapling them together, you glue down the last page in the journal.  It will look like this:  I have a free table of contents that you can download from my TpT store.  Here is the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-interactive-notebook-table-of-contents-2150356

  

Note:  I used 10 pages stapled together.  There are 15 slots to write in their titles for their pages. I do not think you will need that many pages.  I would recommend only do 4-5 pages. 

Guess what?  We are done setting up the journal.  Tomorrow I will begin showing you lessons on  the scientific method.

Still Setting Up the Science Interactive Notebook

Sorry to post so late!  I am still getting the hang of this blogging thing.  Tonight's post will be short and sweet as we are still working on the inside of your journal.  There are three things we need to glue into the journal for students.  After gluing in the rubric on the front cover and the first page, you will need to have to the students turn the to the next page.  This is where their Puzzle Partner sheet will be glued in.  So, let me explain the Puzzle Partner sheet.  When I need to group students quickly for an activity, I do like to use the Puzzle Partner sheet. I give them a blank copy, like is shown below, and students go around and pick a partner for that piece of the puzzle. For example,  Tom wants Sally to be his partner.  He will put is name in the first puzzle piece in Sally's Journal and Sally will put her name in the first puzzle piece in Tom's journal.  After the students have completed their Puzzle Partner sheet, they return to their seat and I give them the colors I want them to color each piece.  Every Puzzle Partner sheet will have the same colored puzzle piece.  When I want to do an activity that requires group work, I simply say "Please get with your red puzzle partner."  There are twelve puzzle pieces in order for students to get mixed up with different partners during the year.  It also helps ease students into making new friends within the classroom.  A copy of the worksheet ( FREEBIE)  can be found at my TpT Store. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Puzzle-Partners-2596571

 

 The next thing we glue in is this Plickers symbol.  If you have not discovered Plickers for quick assessments,  I strongly recommend this app.  It gives you real time feed back.  It is great for tickets out the door.  The kids pick a multiple choice answer by turning their plicker.  If you look closely, you will see that each side of the plicker has a letter.  You can create custom questions on their website and put them in the queue for later use.  I have used it for test review too.  There is  video on there website that shows you everything you need to know about them.  Did I mention this was FREE?  Yes, IT IS FREE!  Gotta love great stuff that is free!  You can print out the cards and assign each kid a number.  It even prints out the assessment results.  You can see right off which kids got it and which gets need more instruction.The best part is all of the symbols are different so students cannot cheat by looking at another student's plicker.  Here is their website: https://plickers.com/.

The last thing we will be gluing in today is the State Standards.  I feel that it is very important to let kids know up front what we will be studying for the year.  I give them a copy of the State standards for their grade and we cut them out and paste them in order in which we study them.  I do not follow them in order.  I have learned from past experience my order works better for me.  Some principals do not like teachers straying from the pacing guide.  However, my principal has been open to the idea and my test scores are great.  The standards will take up several pages in the journal but kids need a road map of what is expected for them to learn for the year.

I think I will stop here for tonight.  Good Night and thanks for stopping by and come back tomorrow to finish the set-up.  Make sure to follow me so you don't miss anything!

Science Interactive Journal Inside Set-Up

Who's ready to set-up the inside of their notebook?  Yesterday, I showed how I set-up the outside of the notebook.  You don't have to be this elaborate.  I have seen some teachers just write the student's name on the front with permanent marker.  Where is the fun in that?  You have to get the kids excited about it! Here are some more examples of outside covers:

The first thing that I have students do after we get the front cover decorated is to start numbering the pages.  They will number all the pages in the journal. I tell my students to put the page numbers in the square at the top left and right of the page.  (Note:  I have my students start with the very first page.  However, some teachers like to start where page 1 is on the backside of the page.  This way students are designated as the left side or the even pages of their notebook is TEACHER side.  The right side or the odd pages is the STUDENT side.)  I have done it both ways.  It is easier for me to just have them start with the first first corner they see when they open up the notebook.  Numbering the notebook will take a little time.  I usually give my students about 20 minutes to complete this.  I like to play music while they are numbering the pages.  Students always ask if they can use a marker to number their pages.  I tell them to do it in pencil first and then they can go back and color the numbers later.  Pages are always skipped and they cannot erase marker.  Pencil first, marker later!

After numbering all of the pages, I have my students glue in somethings that will be helpful to them for the year.  First, we glue in 4 rubrics.  One for each o f the nine weeks.  I got my rubric for this notebook from teachernotebook.com.  Here is the link: http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/frogsandcupcakes/science-notebook-journal-rubric.  I only do one notebook check every nine weeks, but I know some teachers who do weekly checks.  Both ways are fine.  I just know sometimes during the year I am completely covered in paperwork.  Once every nine weeks is all I can handle!  Sometimes, I do spot checks just to keep students accountable and they usually happen on Fridays.  For example, I might just check vocabulary for that week or table of contents.  I usually give the students a stamp or sticker (they love stamps and stickers!).  After they collect so many stamps or stickers, I have a small rewards box that they may get a prize.  Funny how students go crazy over little things such as scented erasers.  I do not spend any money on replenishing my treasure box.  I ask parents for donations or old small happy meal toys.  It is a win win situation for both of us!  They rid the clutter and I keep a well stocked treasure chest.

NOTE ON GLUING:  YOU WILL HAVE TO TEACH YOUR STUDENTS HOW TO USE LIQUID GLUE!  I found this cool saying from teachingblogaddict.com.  I plan to make this a poster and hang it in the front of my classroom.

Next, we will glue in a mailing envelope to the inside back cover.  This will help students keep up with all of the loose items we make throughout the year.  I got a pack of ten from the dollar tree!    Students will glue the envelope on the back inside cover of their journal with the flap side facing them.

After gluing the envelope on the back cover, I have students glue in a page marker ribbon.  I help with this stage because it requires a glue gun.  I did use duct take one year which works great too. You can find ribbon on clearance at Wal-mart all the time.  I usually stock up and allow students to pick their ribbon.  Try to find crazy patterns or bright colors because they absolutely love it!  I have them pre-cut to 22 inches.  This makes it easier and faster to manage for students and me! Plus, there is no wasted ribbon.   I just call them back to my desk and we glue that ribbon right in.  The book mark is a great idea because students can flip right to where they need to be in their journal.  Did I also mention it looks pretty cool too? Here is what the finished products will look like:

My class periods are 90 minutes long.  Everything I shared with you today will take almost the whole class period.  Don't worry and hang in there!  Tomorrow we will finish setting up the inside of the journal.  See you Tomorrow!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Liz in the Classroom.  My name is Elizabeth Saxena and I am a 5th and 6th grade Science and Social Studies teacher in Tennessee. 

I have always wanted to do a blog to help teachers. I feel like sometimes the state throws standards at you without any resources to help.   The last couple of years, I have really gotten into the interactive journals and had lots of success with them.  I plan to use this blog to show teachers step by step on how to use interactive journals in the classroom.  I will share resources and other ideas from various sources to show how creative and fun they can be to use while engaging students in learning. The biggest thing I have realized, from using interactive notebooks in the classroom, is you have to get the kids to buy into the idea.  By creating creative and colorful journals, it allows the kids to take ownership of their learning.  I always do a journal ahead of time to show the kids what their page will look like.  This seems to inspire them to want to do better.

Before I get to the interactive notebooks, let me tell you a little about myself.  I have been teaching for 7 years.  I have a Masters in K-6 and in 4-8.  My first job was teaching reading to 6th graders. Now I teach 5th grade Science and Social Studies and 6th grade Science and World History.

I have two of the world's greatest kids, Natalee and Dakota.  (Yes, I am a little biased!)

I recently got married (well, 9 months ago) to the love of my life, Anand.  

We own a bakery and ice cream shop which is an adventure all to itself.

Well, enough about me!  On to more exciting things-interactive notebooks!  

First, this blog is instead to be an outlet for me to help teachers with interactive notebooks.  I welcome additional ideas and comments but, I will not tolerate negativity.  Please be respectful and kind!  After all, this is my first blog and a learning process for me. 

I don't know about your school but, in my school schedules change around a bit the first couple of weeks of school.  This is the perfect time to set up the interactive notebooks.  In the past, I have allowed the kids to bring in pictures about science and social studies to personalize their journal.  They cut them out and we make a modge podge mixture from glue and water and coat the journals to seal the pictures in place.   This brings a great personal touch to a student's journal.  However for this year, I am printing off a scientist for them to color and glue onto the front of their journal.  It will look like this: (P.S. I give girl students a girl scientist and boys a boy scientist.)

In addition, I often found that most students would not write their names in their journal.  I cannot tell you how many times, this past year, I found journals in desks and did not know which class they came from or who was the owner.  To remedy this problem, I am printing printing name tags for each student to glue at the top of their journals.  I am also using wasabi tape to color code each class.  I hope this will help fix the lost journal problem. Please feel free to leave comments if you have other ideas to fix this growing epidemic.  I have read some blogs where teachers do not allow students to take their journals out of their classrooms and have designated baskets for them to keep them in. However, are they really interacting with their notebook if they leave it in the classroom all the time? My students put EVERYTHING in their journals so they can take them home nightly and study.  My students take their journals home to study, read them to their parents,  or explain what they learned for the day.  The student becomes the teacher at home! (More on this topic tomorrow!)

Now, we have the front cover all done!  I am going to stop here for tonight and will talk about the inside set-up in the blog tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will be back tomorrow!