Are you an interactive notebook pro, never used an interactive notebook before in your life, or fall somewhere in the middle? Check out these tips for using interactive notebooks with your third graders and hopefully where ever you fall, you will find some useful info in this blog post!
I love interactive notebooks. I think they are a great tool for students, especially when quality, up-to-date textbooks can be very hard to come by in the classroom today.
Why Should I Use Interactive Notebooks?
- When used correctly, interactive notebooks are engaging for students.
- Interactive notebooks allow students to review/refer to information over and over- it is right at their fingertips.
- Interactive notebooks can be used as a study guide for tests.
- Interactive notebooks provide a great artifact of learning!
Tips for Creating Interactive Notebooks
- This is obviously a personal preference, but in my experience I prefer to have students use glue to attach the pages in their notebooks. When students glue sticks, the pages don’t seem to stick as well and will tend to fall off.
- Separate the sections/topics with tabs. I have found it best to create tabs out of colored cardstock, attaching the tabs all the way into the page on the notebook. (See example below- that is a hard one to explain!) When the tabs stick out of the notebook, they tear off easily when students take them in and out of their desks.
- I think it is so helpful to always have a completed notebook page to show your students, and then create one step by step before allowing them to begin. (As your students become accustomed to creating the pages, you won’t have to do this each time.)
- It is always so nice to have some students (usually fast finishers) that are capable to help any students that need some extra support getting their pages ready to go.
- If the interactive notebook page requires students to write under a flap, have students trace lightly around the flap so that their writing stays in the confined area. (See example below.)
To Color or Not to Color…
First of all, you will need to decide how you feel about this one. Sometimes it is necessary if the coloring is essential to the lesson, for example, if students are coloring the parts of a plant according to directions, etc.
If the coloring is strictly for appeal, then it is really up to you! Here are some suggestions that I found helpful in my own classroom…
- Coloring an interactive notebook page does not have to be elaborate to make it look pleasing. Students can just outline a box with a bright color and it will add a little something extra to the page. When creating my examples, this is what I will do and many students will choose to do the same.
- Allow students to prep their page ahead of time. Students could get their page ready by coloring as part of their morning work.
- Allow students to color during read aloud time. While my students listened to our read aloud after lunch they were able to color their interactive notebook pages.
- You know your students. While colorful pages are nice, the information is really what is important. For some students the colorful pages are just an added bonus! Give some grace on what you require!
What if My Students Don’t Have a Spiral Notebook to Use?
If your students don’t have spare spirals to use for interactive notebooks, it is pretty simple to create an alternative to use.
- You can create a “notebook” for your students to use from a file folder and loose leaf notebook paper. Count out the number of sheets needed to complete the notebook (add a few extra pages for any mistakes, etc.) and staple them inside the file folder.
- You can do the same as above, except use a sheet of 12 x 18 construction paper to use as the cover. This option is a little more cost effective, but not quite as sturdy, especially since students will be using the “notebooks” daily and taking them in and out of their desks.
I sure hope this list of tips for using interactive notebooks with your third graders has inspired you!
If you are interested in starting your own interactive notebook, you might like this…
