Social Studies Interactive Notebook: Set Up/Sensory Figure

All summer long I have been researching interactive notebooks and a lot of people use them for math and science, which I love!  Except I don't teach math or science...  So my next best idea was social studies :o)  Now I have all good intentions of keeping this going and squeezing social studies into our reading block as much as possible but let's call it what it is, it's not always easy.  Our textbooks are a little outdated so a lot of the info we are compiling here is from a whole host of resources.

For those of you who are unsure of what an interactive notebook is, it is a notebook (composition, spiral, or even a binder - whatever you choose) that allows students to be independent and creative writers and thinkers.  Each notebook is specific to each teacher and there are many different ways to set it up. Take a look at some of these great websites for more ideas!

http://interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/

 



http://mrsgannon.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/settingupthenotebook/

 

I set mine up where the left side is for learning and the right side is for the student's response or reflection.  I know this is pretty backward from what most others do, but I'm too OCD and like things left to right how we learn them, lol, and the matching letters (L-L and R-R) seem to help my students remember.  On the left side is where my students write notes, vocabulary, video notes, fill in printed off guides, glue in foldables that we create in class, basic questions, etc.  The right side I use as their reflections.  I'm starting off by telling them which activity to do on the right side but with their own input and ideas.  As the year continues and they become more familiar with the different types of activities for the reflections, I will let them pick their own.  Here are some websites with great right side ideas!

http://www.mrroughton.com/assignments-new

 

http://sciencenotebooking.blogspot.com/search/label/Right%20Hand%20Ideas



I use this activity table and have even added a few more!  I cannot remember where I found this, during one of my many Google searches, but if anyone knows the creator please let me know so I can thank them profusely and give them credit!  If you click the picture below it will take you to six pages of wonderful activities. :o)

The first day I introduced the notebook the students and I created the Table of Contents and numbered pages 1-5.  I didn't want kids to get too comfortable with the numbering and go ahead without me, so I'm taking it a chunk at a time.



Our first page in our SSIN was a Personal Sensory Figure.  A Sensory Figure is one of the right side activities where students draw a character from a story or a historical figure and then write down what they sense: feel (can do actual touch and emotion), smell, see, hear, taste, and even something they have done/accomplished.  The example I used with my kids was Harriet Tubman: she can smell the damp earth when  hiding in the basements of homes on the underground railroad, she feels hope for the future, she hears peoples cries and concerns and wants to help them, etc.  This is a great way for students to show you that they truly understand their historical figure or character.  For the beginning of the year I thought they could each draw a personal sensory figure because who do they know better than themselves?!   Here is my personal sensory figure (don't judge the drawing, lol)!

There is the beginning of my SSIN!  I will be posting all the pages and creations as I go so if you have any ideas to help along the way I would LOVE to hear them.  As you can tell from the Table of Contents we have already begun our Geography Unit.  Those pages will be coming soon but next up is European Explorers!

Sabra

My Vistaprint creations came in today!!!

I am obsessed with Vistaprint!  I think this is my third order since the end of July, lol.  They keep emailing and I keep buying :o)  I love stalking scouting out other blogs to find new ideas also!

FOR THE CLASSROOM:

I made this super cute "while you were out" slip for students to take around with them to their other classes and write down the work an absent student is missing and when it is due.  It was just a note pad and I tweaked all the wording!  The note pad is a pretty good size and should last me the whole year.

Our weekly Name that State homework stays in a paper bag suitcase that we create in class, so I put these labels in their planner every week so parents know what the student's scores were.

Whenever we have parent conferences they always seem to ask, "What is their lexile?"  or "Are they reading where they should be?"  Since we take the SRI test three times this year I got a couple sheets of these labels for their planners.

 

This might be my all time favorite!  I found this idea on the blog Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge and fell in love.  It is a magnet for students to use at home on the fridge and put up their good work.  I came up with this poem and found a background design on Vistaprint that matched.  I know it's a little pink but the boys will live! LOL  As our first test grades and projects are getting passed back I will attached them with a paper clip to their great scores.  It doesn't necessarily need to be a 100, just what is good for them specifically.  I got 25 for free, then after I confirmed my order they offered a, "You can add extra items to your order in the next 10 minutes, no extra shipping!"  It's usually just more of the stuff you just bought but for a discount, so I got another 25 magnets for $5 and they just added it on to my order, no extra for shipping.

 



 

My very first piece of Sanjurjo stuff!  In case you're wondering, "WHAT is Sanjurjo stuff?" It's my new last name!  These are thank you cards and will def come in handy for the upcoming holidays.

 

 

 

FOR THE HOME:

 

These are just a few things I made up for our wedding :o)  The first is a door hanger for the hotel rooms that will go in the Welcome Bags.  Just imagine a hole punched out in the top ;o)

 



 

We have kind of a rustic theme, hence getting married at a ranch, and are getting married under a tree, so I made these return address labels to use on our thank you cards.  They look much prettier without the gray smudge though!

 

 

There you have it!  My newest creations, lol.  I have many more here on the blog under the Vistaprint link and I'm sure will be adding many more as the year continues :o)

 

Sabra



Hallway Bulletin Boards

So I just realized that I forgot to add in my outside bulletin boards to my classroom tour!  Lol, oops!

I work in an area where not all of my students will be able to afford to go to college.  Instead of them asking themselves, "Will I go to college?"  I want them to ask themselves, "Which college will I go to?"  These are the four major public schools in our state and we plan on putting photos of famous alumni from those colleges (including their wonderful teachers!) in the blank space beneath each pennants.

In Florida we have a program called Sunshine State Readers and this is our "brag" board for the entire 5th grade.  Whenever a student, or teacher, reads all 15 Sunshine State books, they will take a picture with their favorite book and we'll put it in the middle of a sun with their names on them and place it on the "brag" board!

Here are my reading bulletin boards!  I'm in love with the Reading Olympics one :o)  I am obsessed whenever the Olympics come on so I knew I had to incorporate them into my classroom somehow, so I used it for our Think 30  board.  Whenever a student reads 10 books I will put their name on a star and place it in the bronze medal area.  Same goes for 20 books in the silver category and 30 books for the gold!  The other side is a tracker for my two reading groups to see how many/which Sunshine State books they have read thus far.

Bulletin boards are a favorite of mine and I love stalking everyone else's to find new ideas.  If you have any great ones let me know!  I hope you enjoy our hallway!

Sabra

Open House Room Tour 2012-2013

Tonight was our open house and we had a great turn out!  I already love my kiddos and their quirkiness (they'll fit right in, lol) and my parents seem like they will be very involved and helpful.  I'll keep the writing down to a minimum since this will be very picture heavy but I will try and explain what you're seeing in each picture.  I'll start from right to left, going around the room.  Let the tour begin!

When you walk in and turn to the right you see our cubbies (which I need to clean and organize) and the crafty clipboards I've been making to display the student's work.

This is our back wall with a Social Studies bulletin board and working table.

Our classroom management system is called Paws-itive Behavior and this is our rewards chart with the rules and what not underneath.  The kids place a sticker every week that they earn a "Green" week.  Two green weeks earn you a reward and the more rewards you earn the better they get!

I kept up my prefix/suffix board from last year and just moved one of my bookshelves underneath.

Our Types of Questions chart and Vocabulary and Spelling posters next to our Word Work station.

Our Word Work station for our Daily 3.  It has the Boggle Board, Classroom Journals, and a file crate of other Word Work activities.



The side wall and reading area.



Our reading area with the Focus Strip, strategy posters, and our CAFE board.  I taped on sheet protectors to the Focus Strip panels so I can slip in paper that says the skill we are working on.

Corner and front of room.

My guided reading table and "Desk-shelf."  That large white bookshelf is essentially my desk.  It has my binders of info, Teacher Toolbox (Gator version for my man, since he bought me the box and all, lol) my weekly organizing trays and guided reading baskets.

Our front wall and side wall of cabinets.



My Classroom Rules poster with the yard stick frame... LOVE IT!

If you thought, "Wow.  It looks like a bag of Skittles threw up in there," then my mission is accomplished! HAHA!  I can't wait to tour the other teacher's room and see all my other bloggy friend's classrooms.  I love getting new ideas and seeing other people's creativity.  I hope you all have a wonderful beginning of the school year and your Open House goes as well as mine did.

Sabra

Monday Made It #7: Crafty Clipboards 2 and Shh-arpeners

I'm back!!!  I have missed the past few Monday Made It due to family visits, wedding stuff, and getting ready for the new year but along the way I have definitely been crafting and storing it all up and now can share a few (I'm saving some in case I can't craft one week but can still link up, lol).  This week I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics to show you more of my Crafty Clipboards and my new Shh-arperners.

Crafty Clipboards Part 2:
Here are my next nine clipboards that I will be using to showcase my student's amazing work!  Click here to check out the first ten and how I created them.  I had to wait a while to create the rest because I started to notice that they all were beginning to have the same design and I didn't want that.  I'm only so creative! LOL  My favorite of this batch is the plaid with the circular numbers, but I do like the nod to my college, UCF, and my background, the blue jeans ;o)  I think I might even go back to the blue jeans one and put white stitching around the edges with a paint marker.

Shh-arpeners:
One of my pet peeves is when my students are working so quietly or trying to get started and all the sudden their concentration is broken by the sound of the electric sharpener!  This year I am changing that!  If it is quiet time in my classroom and our voices are off, then so are the electric sharpeners.  "Well what do I do when I break my pencil?"  Use the Shh-arpeners :o)  I got the fun little box from Target's Dollar Spot and created the label in Word.  Inside are all my hand held sharpeners that will stay in there.  Click on the picture to get your copy of the label.

Tomorrow is my first official day back in the classroom and will be putting up my clipboards so I will soon post pictures of how they all look.  You know me, as long as it looks like an explosion of color I'm loving it.  It's funny because we are finishing up our registry for our wedding and I keep noticing how our home is very natural with warm colors and I think I would have a heart attack if this explosion of colors were in my house but in my second home I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

Sabra

Finally in the Classroom!

All summer I have been waiting to get into my room and get started but they sent out an email saying, "Hey, we won't let you in until the Thursday before preplan.  You can also come in Friday for half the day but no AC.  Good luck!"  Ugh...  So I really had one and a half days to get it ready before all the meetings and planning began.  Here are some pictures of what I walked into:

Anyone who knows me knows I like to switch it up all the time.  So of course most of what was left up from last year is going, going, gone!  I mostly just worked on one wall today, as you can tell, lol.  Usually my room looks like a bag of Skittles threw up, so as long as there is color everywhere I feel good about it :o)  This is a photo of my guided reading table (far left, hard to see) and the tall bookshelf will essentially be my desk.  You can see the reading area with my focus strip, reading strategy posters, and CAFE board.

Again the reading area and the table on the right will be used for my Word Work for the Daily 3.  I'm only doing Daily 3, not 5, since intermediate is a little different in how we work this was just easier for all of us: Read to Self, Word Work, and Writing Connection.

Across from the Word Work table is another bookshelf with all my nonfiction and author study books.  The bulletin board above that bookshelf is used for our Prefix/Suffix note cards we create throughout the year.

I will be back in there tomorrow (fan in tow!) and hopefully keep working my way around the room.  Now back to cutting, gluing, creating, and the OLYMPICS!

Sabra