Science Notebooks

[jsfowler]

Will someone please help me with my science notebooks!! This is my 7th year and I am never happy with them. How do you organize your notebooks? What do you have students include in them? Do you post a table of contents? How often do you grade them? What do you look for when you grade them? How do you include notebooks in your daily activities? How do you keep up them up-dated? If I do not come up with any good solutions, I am giving up science notebooks...I think they are important so please help.

[Spectre]

Will someone please help me with my science notebooks!! This is my 7th year and I am never happy with them. How do you organize your notebooks? What do you have students include in them? Do you post a table of contents? How often do you grade them? What do you look for when you grade them? How do you include notebooks in your daily activities? How do you keep up them up-dated? If I do not come up with any good solutions, I am giving up science notebooks...I think they are important so please help.

Don't give up on them. They areimportant. Let me explain why.

As I am sure you know, middle schoolers are "all over the landscape" when it comes to keeping track of things. To say they are organizationally challenged is to say that water is wet.:D

Agreed?

I have "all over the landscape" too on science notebooks, from the notorious three rings binders to gracious heaven knows what else.

I have found that simplicity is the simplest way.

With binders, they put things in the wrong section, use the science binder for every subject they have, bring in these massive "trapper keepers," despite my insisting that they not do that and those, inevitably, turn into an awful mess.

I tried folders, but they seemed to tear each time someone looked at them and, aside from that, they had the same issues as the binders did.

So what next?

My students now have a 70 page composition book and a pocket folder for returned work.

Virtually every thing is done in the composition book...class notes, class labs, vocabulary...I even shrink down graphs and other items and have the students use glue sticks to put them on a blank page of the composition book.

I tried keeping them in the classroom and that isn't always a bad idea, but storage room can be an issue, as can giving them out and taking them up. With middle schoolers, you reallywant to minimize the unstructured time as much as you can. that is when most problems occur. So I make the students responsible for keeping up with the notebooks...

Which can be a fiasco if they lose their notebook and yes it does happen, but rarely, actually. We have no science textbook (a fact I sometimes regret) so they are responsible solely for bringing the notebook to and from class.:eek:

Some teachers I know require the table of contents, etc etc, but I have found, at least for me, that the simpler I keep it, the fewer headaches for everyone.:confused:

As far as grading, I collect the notebooks of one of my four classes each day, so I will see the notebooks at least once a week. This prevents the notebooks from having so many assignments that it takes an inordinate amount of time to grade and forces the students to take some responsibility. Not all do, of course, but if they know I will be grading them every week, on a regular basis, they tend to be more attentive to details. Yes, there are some who are quite lackadazical still, but most are not.

When grading, I go through the notebooks, grading any labs we have done (and I do them a lot), checking to see if they have kept up with our dail "journal" entries, done any other assignments I have given and, finally, give a grade for neatness and completion. They get extra points for neatness and having everything done and in order.

My grading method is simple, too. For labs, if they have done everything I asked, they get 50 points - if not, they get less. Simple assignments, like journal entries and short assignments are worth 20 points apiece. I grade on a total points system, so you can see that the points can pile up. In a recent grading, my students had 13 items in their notebooks. Three of them were worth 50 points and the rest 20. The overall notebook check is worth 50 points, unless it is done particularly well and then it is worth 60. One can readily deduct that notebooks account for a large portion of their grade.

Right now, some of them are buoying up their grades solely by being careful and meticulous with their notebooks because they don't do well on tests and quizzes. Well, some do not. Usually, the ones with the better notebooks do well with everything. My point is that the notebooks are important and those who believe what I say benefit.

Hope this helps!:D

[Spectre]

Will someone please help me with my science notebooks!! This is my 7th year and I am never happy with them. How do you organize your notebooks? What do you have students include in them? Do you post a table of contents? How often do you grade them? What do you look for when you grade them? How do you include notebooks in your daily activities? How do you keep up them up-dated? If I do not come up with any good solutions, I am giving up science notebooks...I think they are important so please help.

Don't give up on them. They areimportant. Let me explain why.

As I am sure you know, middle schoolers are "all over the landscape" when it comes to keeping track of things. To say they are organizationally challenged is to say that water is wet.:D

Agreed?

I have been "all over the landscape" too on science notebooks, from the notorious three rings binders to gracious heaven knows what else.

I have found that simplicity is the best way.

With binders, they put things in the wrong section, use the science binder for every subject they have, bring in these massive "trapper keepers," despite my insisting that they not do that and those, inevitably, turn into an awful mess.

I tried folders, but they seemed to tear each time someone looked at them and, aside from that, they had the same issues as the binders did.

So what next?

My students now have a 70 page composition book and a pocket folder for returned work.

Virtually every thing is done in the composition book...class notes, class labs, vocabulary...I even shrink down graphs and other items and have the students use glue sticks to put them on a blank page of the composition book.

I tried keeping them in the classroom and that isn't always a bad idea, but storage room can be an issue, as can giving them out and taking them up. With middle schoolers, you reallywant to minimize the unstructured time as much as you can. that is when most problems occur. So I make the students responsible for keeping up with the notebooks...

Which can be a fiasco if they lose their notebook and yes it does happen, but rarely, actually. We have no science textbook (a fact I sometimes regret) so they are responsible solely for bringing the notebook to and from class.:eek:

Some teachers I know require the table of contents, etc etc, but I have found, at least for me, that the simpler I keep it, the fewer headaches for everyone.:confused:

As far as grading, I collect the notebooks of one of my four classes each day, so I will see the notebooks at least once a week. This prevents the notebooks from having so many assignments that it takes an inordinate amount of time to grade and forces the students to take some responsibility. Not all do, of course, but if they know I will be grading them every week, on a regular basis, they tend to be more attentive to details. Yes, there are some who are quite lackadazical still, but most are not.

When grading, I go through the notebooks, grading any labs we have done (and I do them a lot), checking to see if they have kept up with our dail "journal" entries, done any other assignments I have given and, finally, give a grade for neatness and completion. They get extra points for neatness and having everything done and in order.

My grading method is simple, too. For labs, if they have done everything I asked, they get 50 points - if not, they get less. Simple assignments, like journal entries and short assignments are worth 20 points apiece. I grade on a total points system, so you can see that the points can pile up. In a recent grading, my students had 13 items in their notebooks. Three of them were worth 50 points and the rest 20. The overall notebook check is worth 50 points, unless it is done particularly well and then it is worth 60. One can readily deduct that notebooks account for a large portion of their grade.

Right now, some of them are buoying up their grades solely by being careful and meticulous with their notebooks because they don't do well on tests and quizzes. Well, some do not. Usually, the ones with the better notebooks do well with everything. My point is that the notebooks are important and those who believe what I say benefit.

Hope this helps!:D

[jsfowler]

Today, I found the following article about notebooks and I think it may help. He also uses a composition notebook which is something I have never tried. I also came across an awesome lab book that I am looking in to. Please keep the suggestions coming...these are very helpful.

http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/tfu/pop3_7.cfm

[Spectre]

An excellent article! Thanks!

[MsCoffeeLover]

jsfowler, I don't have my kids keep a notebook, but I see other teachers that do. I don't recall seeing a table of contents, but I do recall seeing a section for notes, tests, quizzes, etc. They end up having seven tabs.

That is just too much for me being the minimalist that I am. All my kids really need is a binder, notebook paper and something to write with. For everything I distribute, I hole punch them for the kids, but paper always seems to be rationed, so, well, you know how that goes...

Basically I collect things daily, grade daily, and return things daily. I don't give cumulative assessments. We do one unit at a time, and everything after that can be tossed. After every test, we purge notebooks and begin fresh.

Learn, apply, test, and toss.

Paperwork and the space these notebooks take up is just too overwhelming for me. Maybe next year I may think about this more.

[muinteoir]

I'm a big fan of notebooks, but like Spectre, it took me a while to get a system that worked for me & my classes.

I had my students use a composition book - not a spiral.
I kept them in class in a wash tub; one tub for each class period. I taught the kids to pick up their journal when they came into class; it was just part of the start of class procedure.
I started each class with a warm-up/bellringer. The students knew to do the warmup in the notebook while I took attendance, etc.
I also used the journals for:
notes
graphic organizers
reflections
conclusions
diagrams
Sometimes we glued in 3 dimensional graphic organizers (foldables).
We used a lot of color.

I didn't usually have complete labs in the journals, they tended to be too long and took up too much room.
I did have the kids make observations & inferences in them.

I didn't grade them. I did try to leave specific feedback in everyone's journal a couple of times a grading period.
Each grading period we had a journal test. I gave a test over the material in the journals. The test questions covered the content in the journals, not stuff like "what is the page number for the venn diagram comparing mitosis & meiosis?"

The kids could use the journal to take the test. Kids with good journals made good grades on the test. Sometimes kids with messy or incomplete journals made good grades too because they knew the content.
I'm ok with that.

I kept a notebook with the warmups and answers in the classroom. When a child was absent, s/he knew to get the notebook & copy the warmup into the journal. They were also responsible for getting with a partner or classmate & getting any other info that belonged in the journal that day.

Some resources that may be useful:
http://www.sciencenotebooks.org/

http://hub.mspnet.org/media/data/science_notebook.pdf?media_000000001189.pdf

[Flipp]

I've started using notebooks this year. We use bound composition books. I do a daily journal entry and then we use it for notes, and lab data.
I teach 6th through 8th grade, so grading the journals is a big job. I do it monthly.
As they're doing their daily journal entries, I walk the room and do spot checks. Then I stamp their journals with a happy face stamp.

[ecole]

I am not a big fan of notebooks for my class, but I understand how they could be useful for some teachers. It is a way for students to stay organized and another form of assessment for the teacher. Many of the teachers at my school use them and find them to be very effective.

[jsfowler]

sciencenotebooks.org is a good site - very useful!!

I think I am going to use a composition notebook next year with tabs. I welcome any other suggestions.

[WVmtnlady]

jsfowler, I'm new here and thought I would reply to your post because I found it interesting. Have you tried any of the sites on interactive science notebooks? I graduated from WKU and part of one of my methods classes involved learning about using interactive notebooks. There are a lot of sites available with information on them. I think they are quite interesting and you may enjoy them also. I hope my little bit of input will help in some way. :)

[jsfowler]

Great idea...I found a lot of useful websites on the topic. This takes the idea of a composition notebook even further. Thanks for the idea - I WILL be using interactive science notebooks in my class next year. I'm really excited about this. I wonder if they offer any PD on training teachers to get the most out of the notebook? By the way, my sisters-in-law graduated from WKU - great school. Do you know anything about the high school on campus where students can earn college credit while finishing high school?

[WVmtnlady]

I definately plan to use the interactive notebook (when I get a job!:D). I like the different aspects of it because there are so many things that you can do to make it unique. You might want to check out TCI (Teachers Curriculum Institute). They have a lot of info. on the interactive notebook. It can be implemented into about every content area. And, yes, I have heard of the high school on campus. My youngest son (he will be 15 on Monday) will be able to begin participating in it next year. He will get high school and college credit for the courses he takes. He will attend school as usual and take an on-line course during one class period. He will be able to take up to 18 credit hours by the time he graduates high school and all at no cost to me. ;)