They’re everywhere.

Interactive notebooks, that is.

And they aren’t going anywhere!

Have you ever thought that you’d like to implement interactive notebooks in your classroom, but not sure how you’d get started?

Perhaps you’re nervous to implement them with your students because you’ve heard horror stories from teacher friends who felt they took up too much instructional time, or that it was just chaotic and not worth the effort?

Well, stick around because I’m going to give you some tips for making them a success in your classroom.

WHAT ARE INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS?

I never like to assume any knowledge, so before we get too far into it, I want to make sure that we are all on the same page.

Interactive notebooks come in all shapes and sizes, but essentially, interactive notebooks are spiral or composition notebooks where students can organize their notes.  

Traditionally, interactive notebooks were organized in such a way that the right side of a notebook had information given by the teacher (notes, discussions, handouts, etc.).  On the left side, students personalized the information given by the teacher in forms of drawings, cartoons, personalized wording of vocabulary, etc…

As interactive notebooks have trickled their way down into the elementary level, interactive notebooks have evolved and don’t always follow the right side/left side rule (although some still do and work great!).

Students now often glue in notes sheets, foldables, timelines, vocabulary flaps and more into their interactive notebooks.  The notebooks can take on a variety of looks depending on the age level, abilities, and needs of the students.  Many teachers use interactive notebooks for all subjects, while some use it for only one or two subjects.

And – although Pinterest may make you think otherwise – the elements that your students glue in to their notebook do NOT need to be fancy, overly creative, or crazy complicated.

WHAT MATERIALS WILL YOU NEED?

To set up your interactive notebooks, you will need:

• spiral/composition notebook
• white glue (I think white glue works better that glue sticks as the adhesive lasts longer)
• scissors
• crayons or colored pencils (not markers – they will bleed through the pages)