Creating Diagrams in Interactive Notebooks

If you are like me there are times where creating a diagram is necessary to show how something works. When I was teaching fifth grade we had so many diagrams and they were up all over our classroom because I didn't know better. This made it really hard for my students to actually use the diagrams to retain the knowledge.

Now that I have been using Interactive Notebooks for the past four years I wish that I had been using my students lab books (composition notebooks) better back then. I remember we had a lab where we talked about weathering, erosion and deposition and my students used their pencils and drew pictures. HOW BORING! Color is so much more fun and can add to their learning.

I love using the Tri-Fold Mini Book Template to create flowing lessons that build upon each other or diagrams with room to identify things.

The front section allows me to title the flippable for Weathering, Erosion and Deposition while also being a little creative. Most of the time my students only do the extra creating when they are at home and studying. Inside class time is used for the actual diagram creation as well as labeling. 

The extra side on one of the flaps allows the students to keep definitions for each of the terms that are involved in this flippable. I love that we can also color-coordinate them with the title words and areas in the diagram.

When you open up the Three-Flap Mini Book it gives plenty of space for the diagram for the process of Weathering, Erosion and Deposition. I only wish this was how I taught my fifth graders (who have now graduated) because I think it could have really helped. Believe me, I have sent it on to quite a few friends who still teach as 5th Grade is a testing grade for Science and any visual the students can use will help!

Do you love using Flippables as much as I do? Would you love to add three more templates to your arsenal so that you can use them as needed? Click the picture below to join my newsletter and you will be given a link to download three new templates in PDF (easy printing) and JPG (editable) format!

Would love to hear from you and see you over on my blog so check me out at

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Beginning of the Year Flippable Fun

So, let me preface this post by saying....most of you are probably already back in school. But alas, sometimes that's how inspiration works....behind schedule.

If you follow me over at my blog, One Lesson at a Time or on my Facebook Page, you already know that I am currently head-over-heels in love with Interactive Notebooks. I've been working like a fiend lately on my 3rd Grade Interactive Notebook Activities to go along with the Common Core math standards. As I was working, it dawned on me - these would be so fun for the beginning of the school year!

So, I came up with some ideas for flippable, foldable fun stuff that you can do with your kiddos at the beginning of the year. If you are still in your first couple of weeks, hopefully you can use some of these ideas! And if you can't use them this year, file them away for next year. :)

You obviously don't have to use these activities in a notebook. They would look great mounted to construction paper or even a bulletin board display.

1. Class Rules Foldable

2. What Makes a Good Classmate? Shutterfold

3. What Makes a Good Teacher? Shutterfold

4. My Goals For This Year Flaps

If you want to download this little freebie pack, CLICK HERE or click the picture to grab it from Google Drive! Better late than never....and better late when it's free, right? :)

I am churning out my Interactive Notebook Activities as fast as I can - here's the link to the custom category in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store where you'll find them!

And make sure to keep your eye on my blog, One Lesson at a Time, for more INB ideas and freebies - like these free Math INB labels! Click the picture if you'd like to download those! 

 I hope you're able to use these flippable activities this year - or next year! Thanks for stopping by ATUE!

Teachers Pay Teachers StoreFacebookOne Lesson at a TimePinterest

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What Do I Need for INBs?

If you are a teacher looking to implement Interactive Notebooks, you are going to need some supplies.

When you care compiling your supplies, you need to know that starting off with a sturdy notebook that will stand up over time.

To decorate and use in the sturdy notebook, you are going to need various types of pens, pencils, colored pencils, markers and highlighters.

And because you aren't only going to be writing/drawing in your notebook, you will need colored paper to be able to create Flippables to hold your notes.

To be able to create those Flippables, you will need scissors to cut on the dashed lines as well as glue sticks to stick them in your notebook. Sometimes you may use tape to create a hinge or for special types of Flippables that need to be sealed on one edge.

Once you have your notes all together, you may want to add in other things like Post It Notes, a handheld pencil sharpener, or some washi tape.

And to keep track of all these supplies, it would be best to put them all in a tub at each table.

And as a Structure Sergeant, those tubs will be your lifesaver at the end of each day to wrangle up the supplies for your students to be prepared for the next day.

So, until next time...

Mathematically Yours,

Jennifer Smith-Sloane

aka 4mulaFun

@4mulaFun

4mulaFun on Facebook

4mulaFun on Pinterest

P.S. The Interactive Notebook Linky returns on June 28th! Get your posts ready!

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Taking Time for Interactive Notebooks in the Classroom

Whew, time sure does fly at the end of the school year when you are literally cramming in all the last minute activities to make sure you reach all of the necessary standards, completing paperwork (my nemesis), attending last minute activities and meetings, etc.

Last month I brought up planning as what I think is the most important factor in implementing Interactive Notebooks into your classroom. After that blog post I received numerous questions and comments asking, "How do you fit everything in during each class time?" What a great question! After giving a few quick responses, I decided that I had to share with all of my friends here at All Things Upper Elementary just how I fit it all in.

What is your time frame?

Do you have a 45 minutes class? a 90 minute class? a rotating schedule? a self-contained class that has rough timelines? As soon as I saw on my schedule of classes last summer that each were between 48 and 52 minutes long, 5 days a week I knew that my time frame for fitting in all the necessary components of my lessons was a magical 48 minutes.

How do you plan for your time frame?

From day one in my classroom I was notorious for being a "Structure Sergeant"; yep, that's a nice way of putting it.

When students walking into my classroom they quickly gather all materials needed for the daily lesson. Once they are at their desk they spend NO MORE THAN 3-5 minutes prepping their Interactive Notebook for that day's activities. This includes updating the Table of Contents, writing the date on the page, and cutting out anything and everything and gluing down the bones of the lesson.

I always post a skeleton copy (bare bones, nothing completed) as a picture on my computer to project for all students to see as this gives me the necessary time to complete those teacher tasks such as attendance, etc. before getting stated.

Once the prep time is complete, we move right into our intro of our lesson. This is when I have a student read the "I Can Statement" for the day and we talk about what we will be doing as a component of that statement and break down some key vocabulary that might be in it and if one of those words happens to be a vocabulary word, we complete our Frayer model at that time. We are now roughly 7-10 minutes into class.

Rocking right on it's time to get into the "meat" of the lesson for the day. Typically I did a flippable version of notes so that I could have something interactive to draw my students in for the lesson by keeping them on their toes. There are different ways to do this such a cloze notes, sort and stick (gluing notes that were already typed), or even having groups break into parts of the lesson and report back.

The most important part of this is to keep things flowing so that students are engaged. Doing this in my classroom made my off task behaviors virtually non-existent. Once I had done significant modeling with each individual class of students, I began picking a teacher helper during each class. This teacher helper was my INB Vanna during lessons and uncovered areas or completed their lesson under my document camera while I was monitoring and assisting while also teaching around the room.

There were days that I picked a student who was on the more active side and they were typically the BEST at modeling how a "Structure Sergeant" models a lesson. It's amazing what they had picked up non-verbally from me over time.

After roughly a 15-20 minute mini-lesson it was time for practice and application of skills. I am a huge proponent of not drilling and killing my students but rather relating it to a real-life problem that they may face sometime in life as well as making it interesting to them in some way. This lends to word problems so well. There were days where we only completed 2-3 problems and that was perfectly fine because then there were other days where we were able to complete a lot more through whole group practice, workstations, small group work, etc.

By this time we are ready to wrap things up. This is when I would pull in an Exit Ticket or my favorite, a "Post It, Prove It." These two strategies give me immediate feedback on what each student has internalized and connected with in the lesson for the day which in turn allows me to determine students who need extra support, are on target and even those that are ready to move on to the next step.

So, until next time...

Mathematically Yours,

Jennifer Smith-Sloane

aka 4mulaFun

@4mulaFun

4mulaFun on Facebook

4mulaFun on Pinterest

P.S. The Interactive Notebook Linky returns on June 28th! Get your posts ready!

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Angles, Angles Everywhere!

Good morning! As many of you know I am a lover of anything and everything to do with an Interactive Notebook (INB). I am here today to share one of my latest flippables with you that my students have recently.

We just finished up reviewing the four different types of angles as part of our Geometry Unit so we had to create a fun flippable to use as a resource.

When my students walk in the door, they know to grab what is laying out for them and as part of their bell ringer they cut out and prepare everything for their INB for the day. First things up, the page title and the I Can statement.

I always show my students a completed example so that they can see what it will be looking like when they are finished. They know not to start "decorating" because they never know what the directions will be for the day. (Today's directions given at the end were to draw an item that has each given type of angle: heart- acute at the base, right- house at the base, clock- the hands are in an obtuse angle, flag pole- the pole is a straight angle).

Next up, it was time to match the definitions to each flap. I let my students work together on this and gave them a few minutes so that I could walk around and hear their conversations and how they were justifying it within their group. Hearing them using mathematical terms makes my day.

Next it was time to start creating our examples. I gave each student 4 stars in three different colors. They were to create an example of each angle and then label the angle according to their sticker color names. You can see this is angle BGR (blue, gold, red).

After the students went through and created their angles and placed their stickers, I had them check a neighbors. More mathematical talk that made me swoon.

The last part of this flippable was when I passed out the protractors. Each student had to use their protractor and write a complete sentence demonstrating why the angle that they created for each flap was that particular type of angle. 

When they were done, I let students go around with their protractors and measure various things in the room and stick a small Post-It in that spot that labeled the measurement of that angle. I even had some that were adventurous and asked for my painters tape and made their own angles on our tile floor. 

This Flippable, and many more, are available with all of the resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

I hope you have a great day and I can't wait to share another math adventure with you next time around here on All Things Upper Elementary!

Mathematically Yours,

Jennifer Smith-Sloane

aka 4mulaFun

@4mulaFun

4mulaFun on Facebook

4mulaFun on Pinterest

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