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!