Go Digital! Digital Interactive Notebooks!

One of my goals this year was to start using interactive notebooks. I could see the benefits of students creating a notebook that they could refer to all year.  I could also see benefits of students using the graphic organizers as tools to help organize, understand, and synthesize new information.

I decided to start small, and implement an interactive notebook to follow our math curriculum. This is how my math lesson would look: Mini-Lesson, then students would work independently while I worked with students in small groups to re-teach or to enrich my lesson. You can learn more about the specifics of my math lesson here. During independent work, students would be required to complete a page in their Interactive Notebook. But, this is where I noticed two things…

1. While I looked up from working with my students, to take the pace of the classroom, I noticed that students were spending a lot of time getting their scissors out to cut out pages, or getting their glue out. I realized that I needed to find a way for students to use these great ideas in a more streamlined activity with a quicker transition time.
2. After a conversation with my co-teacher, I realized that it would be great to be able to implement some technology skills that the students will see on their end of the year Statewide Standardized Tests.

This is where the idea of DIGITAL INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS came in. Digital Interactive Notebooks take away the long transition time of getting out various materials such as scissors, glues, colored pencils, and handouts. (They also limit prep time, no more waiting for the copier!)

They also promote technology skills, such as moving rulers along the screen to measure a line, or moving pictures to make a pictograph. After one quick lesson on how the Digital Interactive Notebooks work, students have been working on them COMPLETELY independently. Students use the Anchor Charts in the Interactive Notebook to help them answer the questions and feel confident about the skills. I can also use the digital tools to comment on each of their notebooks to provide immediate feedback quickly and efficiently.

Here’s how they work:

1. Students can use any device in the classroom (computers, iPads, Chrome Books, etc.)
2. Students open up their individual Digital Interactive Notebook (You can assign the Google Slides through Google Classroom, You can make a folder on a shared Classroom Google Account, or You can give the students the link and they can use it through their own Google Account.)
3. Students complete the pages that you assign. 

These Digital Interactive Notebooks are a great way for my students to practice skills and strategies. They have access to the notebooks all year (and year from year) so they can always go back to the notebook to revisit a skill.

Check out these Digital Interactive Notebooks at my TpT Store!