Interactive Notebooks - The Perfect Combination of Lecture and Handout Notes!

Lecture notes = stand and deliver in many minds.  Guided (fill-in-the-blank) notes = spoon feeding in other minds.  Neither one is better or worse than the other.  Instead they are structured to meet your students at the place that they are at.  The reality is, though, that in a class of 28 - 35 no one is at the same place.  So how do you meet them where they are at while retaining the flow of the class?  This is a struggle that I have had for the better part of 20 years through a 7 - period day, 6 - period day, trimesters, semesters, block and probably more that I cannot remember!  In addition, we have tried to be more "green" and "paperless" in my district as well which further adds to the struggle when you are trying to not make multi-page handouts that will just be (hopefully) recycled at the end of the semester.  So this year, I am trying  going to pilot something different in one of my classes - Interactive Notebooks - that I think will be the "perfect" marriage between the two methods!  I wanted to share with you why and how I'm going to go about it!

Cut and Paste

1)  Interactive Notebooks help students to stay organized helps them to reference back to old material.  One of my biggest frustrations is when students are trying to find something in a folder that is jam-packed with old assignments, notes, handouts and 1,000 other pieces of paper.  While it is fantastic that they are keeping all of these things, they serve no purpose if they can't find anything in them!  By using an interactive notebook students have all of their notes, IN ORDER, and can actually find them when they need them.  Some teachers also have students number the pages and keep a table of contents (which makes so much sense) so that they know exactly where the material is.  This is a fantastic thing, especially at the secondary level when material spirals and keeps building upon each other.  Although I did not use INB this year, I had a couple of my honor's students

FREE!!!

bring out their INB from the previous year (yes they kept them!) to look up previous ideas!

2)  Interactive Notebooks help to hold students accountable for and engage them in their own learning.  With many of guided notes, I find that a few of my students literally only fill-in-the blanks and don't write anything else down.  While this is by far a slim percentage of my students, as a teacher I want to reach them all.  I asked my students why this was and the common response was
that they don't know how to take notes and that they write slow (especially if the blanks are words that they are not familiar with).   INBs allow teachers to go more in-depth and help students to focus in on small pieces of information which leads to students writing more down.  Students also seem to feel more ownership because they can annotate easier and add things around the page.  

Angles of Elevation and Depression

3)  Interactive Notebooks should save paper, resources and time.  Since the interactive notebook pages are smaller and many less pages than traditional notes it should save on both paper and copy machine resources.  Most INB pages can be printed two to a page or are tabs that you can paste into the regular notebook and write under, both of which will save on paper.  Fewer copies means less time at the copy machine which means more time for everything else!  Additionally, since INB pages tend to be shorter, it will be easier to go over them more in-depth with absent students instead of having to wait for them to copy down multiple pages of notes from other students first.  Instead you can create an Interactive Notebook of your own that can act as a key.  This way  absent students can just borrow yours to fill in theirs and you can copy just one or two pages of your notebook if you need to send something home instead of multiple pages.

Similar Triangles Cut and Paste

4)  Interactive Notebooks meet students where they are at.  Interactive notebooks allow students to pick their pace.  If they need more examples, they can write them on the notebook page around the INB paste in.  Or if they want to explain how different ideas tie together, they can write the page number of the related page on the INB page and have quick reference.  Additionally, for those students who have accommodations, INB pages are easily differentiated to meet their needs.  I have even found that when surveyed, my honor's level kids liked the idea.  They stated that sometimes it is nice to have the diagrams done so that they can go further and explore the ideas more in-depth instead of getting bogged down with drawing everything.

Congruent Triangles Cut and Paste

I am going to try out Interactive Notebooks in one or two of my classes for the first couple weeks of school and do traditional guided notes in my other.  After a couple of weeks, I will let my students chose which one they like better.  I suspect it is going to the Interactive Notebooks.  I'll keep you posted!   Click here to get my Interactive Notebook pages on Angles Formed by Parallel Lines for free!   I would love to hear how you use Interactive Notebooks in your classes!  Please share below!  

Super Spectacular Secondary Mathletes Giveaway!

A few months ago a group of teacher-authors from TeachersPayTeachers connected with each other and formed a collaborative group named the Secondary Mathletes. You all have been so supportive of all of us that it is time for us to give back to you! We are pleased to announce that we have come together to create a giveaway as a thank you for all of your support. Two lucky winners will receive a bundle of wonderful activities, games and resources that you can use in the first few weeks of school!  Each teacher-author has provided a short description of their resource and you can find links to their TpT stores as well as to the product itself!  Please enter the giveaway using the rafflecopter at the bottom!  The drawing will be open until July 18th!

1) From the SecondaryMathShop. I have included my Geometry Beginning Concepts Vocabulary Matching Activity. This activity is designed to serve a few purposes including reinforcing the foundational vocabulary from geometry, help students who are struggling with the vocabulary to visualize the terms and to help students review for an upcoming test. Included you will find four types of cards to match - - a term, a diagram, a name (label) and a definition - - as well as answer sheet! There are so many ways to use this activity!

2) From Hodges Herald. I have included my Multiplying and Dividing Fractions Bingo. Use this game to get your students back into mathematical thinking.  Students get to chose how to set up their Bingo boards which helps them to practice organization as well as how to write fractions.  A fun way to review previously learned concepts. This bingo game using Task Cards. Great for small groups or whole class. Self Correcting and loads of fun!

3) From Lindsay Perro. I have included my Back to School Math Activities for Middle School. We all know summer passes quickly! Some of your students will return to school eager and ready to learn, others will be hesitant to get back in the swing of things and will still be holding on to their summer! This packet includes 9 questionnaires, ice breakers and activities for back to school. 

4) From Live, Love, Math. I have included my Integer Operations Seating Cards. This file includes a set of 30 seating cards (4 to a page). Each card has an order of operations problem involving integers which the student will solve in order to find his/her seat in the classroom. I have my desks numbered 1-30 and this is how I set up my seating chart at the beginning of the year or anytime I want to change seats. Each problem has a unique solution, so it is a good discussion starter when you see two students trying to sit in the same seat or in this case, trying to find a negative seat! All answers are positive.These problems do include negative numbers as well as exponents and all four operations. Some are harder than others, so you can give some of the easier ones to kiddos who haven't mastered the skill yet in order to give them a confidence boost. There are also two blank cards in case you have a class larger than 30.

5) From Scaffolded Math and Science. I have included my Interactive Notebook: Solving Algebra Equations. This download includes 8 pocket flippables showing the solving process of 8 different equations. Once put together, each pocket holds a series of different-sized cards that align to show the steps of solving. On the bottoms of each card (out of sight when the cards are all in place) are explanations for each step. Students can add each card to its pocket while reading why each step was taken to solve the equation. 

6) From Teaching High School Math. I have included my Algebra - Line Them Up - Solving Two Step Equations. In this activity, students are each given a task card with a solving two step equations problem and a QR Code. Students are given a couple of minutes to solve their problem. Then they are invited to get up and
arrange themselves in order of their solutions from smallest to largest. After they think they have themselves in order, the teacher walks by and scans their QR Codes. The teacher announces the solution on each card. If students are lined up correctly, they win! This is a great activity for the beginning of school because it gives students a chance to interact in a non-threatening way. It gives you the opportunity to see who your leaders will be. This activity would probably best be used in a Geometry class where all students have already learned to solve equations.

7)  From All Things Algebra.  I have included my Order of Operations, Evaluating Expressions, One-Step Equations Review.  Rolling review activities are perfect way to have students work together, yet work on their own problems. Students love to roll the dice to choose the problems, and are amazed that two different problems can have the exact same answer. The matching answers also provide a means of self checking. This particular rolling review activity contains order of operations, evaluating expressions, and one-step equations. This would make a terrific back to school review to brush up on some basic skills!

8) From MissMathDork. I have included my How to be a Good Mathematician - 14 colorful posters for your classroom! So many students don't know what it means to be a Good Mathematicians These 14 bright and colorful posters serve as a constant reminder! Included in this product:

*14 bright and colorful posters
*14 colorful, but more printer friendly posters - these also print beautifully in black and white without losing the details
*A handout for your students to keep close at hand to remind them of the qualities of a Good Mathematician. (The handout is available in 4 colors, and one printer friendly version)



9) From To the Square Inch - Kate Bing Coners. I have included my Scientific Notation Guided notes and Task Cards CCS: 8.EE.A.4. This product is designed to help students learn, apply and practice the concept of Scientific Notation. I have included in this product:
*Scientific Notation Notes
*Scientific Notation to Standard Form Notes
*Products and Quotients in Scientific Notation Notes
*20 Scientific Notation Task Cards
*Recording Sheet
*Science Connection Worksheet

10) From Lessons withe Coffee. I have included my Print and Go Interactive Math Bulletin Board {Boggle}. This edition of the P&G Bulletin Boards is Boggle. Students are given instructions and a worksheet to write down answers on. Once this wall is set up, not only do you have a beautiful wall, but you also have a conversation starter. For this particular game students are to pick two numbers and simply add or subtract them. YOU CHOOSE what numbers to use. I have decimals on mine, but I will change to fractions after one week. The idea is that you change the numbers each week. This could be money, whole numbers, integers, absolute values, square roots, or exponents. HECK! Throw in some expressions with variables to add! This set includes:
**BOGGLE header – KG Wake Me Up**
**Directions Letters – KG Cold Coffee (My Current favorite font!)
**Student Direction Bubbles
**16 Star bursts with white box for writing numbers
**“Boggle Work Sheet” File folder sign
**Boggle Work Sheet

We are giving away a bundle to two  lucky winners so enter below!!! :)

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Quick Reference Sheets - A Perfect Fit for Interactive Notebooks and More!

Geometry (and math in general) is full of theorems, diagrams, formulas, calculations and so many more topic specific things to remember that students often suffer from brain overload.  Throughout my years of teaching math at the secondary level I have seen this happen on multiple occasions and when it happens, well the results are just not pretty.  The students begin to get frustrated trying to keep things straight, they act out or

Quick Ref

worse, they give up and shut down.  I am a big proponent of graphic organizers (coming soon in a future blog post!) but depending on the topic they can sometimes get lengthier than I would really like them to become.

Quick Ref

The need for something to help students really came to a head when we started talking about right triangle and trigonometry, specially the special right triangles formulas!  To overcome both the student shutting down and the length issues, I started thinking about how I remember things.  I mean, even though I'm a math teacher, I can't keep everything in my head at all times! :)  I realized that I often create "cheat sheets" for a lack of a better thing to call them.  These sheets usually consist of formulas, sketches and possibly shortcuts depending on what I'm trying to remember.  When I sat down to transfer my cheat sheets to something more students friendly, I ended up with something that was a cross between a graphic organizer and a formula list.

Each one ended up containing diagrams as well as the formulas that corresponded!  I decided that I didn't want to just give them everything thought.  I am a strong believer in the fact that when a student writes things down on their, they remember the information better.  As a result, I ended up creating two versions.

The first version has everything filled in as an answer key and as an accommodation for students with IEP's/504s.  This version also works great to leave at a station for an aide during a station review. 

Freebie!!!

Additionally, I have sent them home to parents to give them an overview of the unit that we are studying as well as putting them in my own unit plans.

The second version has blanks for students to fill in of the important information. 
I found that this works perfect for many things.  If they are printed two to a sheet, students can put them in an interactive notebook.  I have also used them as a review for a quiz or test and as a catch-up tool for absent students.

Bundle

So far I have created six:  Circles, Transformations, Area, Surface Area and Volume, Quadrilaterals and Right Triangles/Trigonometry.  This last one is my newest freebie in my TeachersPayTeachers store!  Please
check it out and let me know what you think. I have also bundle all six of my Quick Reference Sheets in a money-saving bundle!  I have more planned to cover other units of Geometry and eventually I might branch out and make some for algebra!