Setting Math Notebooks Up

This is the easy part!

I use a notebook so I can keep all of the kids' problem-solving together in one place. It's amazing to see their growth over the course of a year! I do not send my notebooks home (I can't risk them getting lost!) So how, you ask, do parents know what we're doing in math? I constantly communicate with my parents through e-mails, my classroom blog and even Twitter to let them know what we're doing and how they can reinforce what we're learning at home. I use the journals during conferences to show parents all of their children's strengths and weaknesses.

So, where to start...

1. Choose your notebook. It's really up to your own personal preferences (and what's on your school supply list!) I prefer marble composition books, because those things can take a beating and never fall apart! Pages are sewn in, so they don't fall out. The cover is nice and sturdy. There are plenty of pages. (I do wish they came in a regular 8 1/2 x 11" size).

You can also use spirals, but I hate how the metal spiral parts can get all pulled out of shape and/or twisted together...and they're dangerous (ouch!) The covers rip and pages tear out easily.

You could also use blank copy paper in a 3-brad folder.

2. Label the notebooks. We use black-composition notebooks for everything in my room--science notebooks, writing journals, reading workshop notebooks--so I have to make each one unique somehow (so I can say, "Go get your problem-solving notebook. It's the one with the caterpillar.")

3. Put helpful information inside the front cover. I put a page that has numbers 1 through 20 (because most kindergartners can count at the beginning of the year, many need a visual reminder of how to write the actual numbers).

4. Glue in the Problem-Solving Notebook Expectations. I actually do this as a whole lesson with the kids. We go over each expectation. We learn how to find the next blank page (so the kids won't flip to the middle of their notebook to do a problem). We learn how to use the glue properly (both glue stick and bottle) to glue problems and activities in our notebooks. I continue to revisit these expectations throughout the year.




5. Now you're all ready. Please remember that the first few days (weeks) of problem solving might be a little ugly. Despite your best efforts, kids will still glue their pages together. They will still flip to the middle of the notebook to do a problem. Their drawing/fine-motor/writing skills are still developing, so the journals will be messy (messy...messy!) And I promise you at least a couple of kids will flip their journals completely upside down and start in the back--happens every year! But everyday, it gets a little better. You'll be amazed at how different their notebooks look in a month or two. Don't give up!