Science and Social Studies Journals

Aloha friends! I hope this week is more in synch and flowing smoothly.  We had a slow start, but I feel like we are off and running into the 3rd quarter.

This year it seems like everyone got on the interactive notebook bandwagon.  I was honestly so busy that I didn't really look into it until the end of last quarter.

I have always had a science journal, but it never really got used enough.  We maybe recorded a few experiments and basically just sat collecting dust.

I decided to look into some interactive notebook posts and got a few ideas.  This is what I came up with to work for my class.

I decided to use one notebook for both subjects.  I divided it right down the middle and I put tabs on the pages to separate the sections.

I also made a standards page for each subject.

What I have included are any worksheets or activities that we do for each topic.  We started with maps and globes.

Now were moving onto Economics.

I am using a variety of activities that I have collected over the years and have now compiled them into my different interactive notebook units.  {Click Here}

For science we just started with matter.

I found some fun poems from various resources and just retyped them.

We discussed properties of matter and I had them do some writing.

I plan to continue with some experiments and predictions for next week.

I am no expert on interactive journals, but I like that I can use a variety of activities and include them in here along with note taking.  At the end of the year everything is all in one place.

I made a few printables to help get my journals organized.  The standards are for 2nd grade here in Hawaii, but there may be a few other things you would like to use.  

Just click on the picture to grab the file in Google Docs.

Do you use interactive journals in your class and what kinds of activities do you include?  How long have you been using them?  I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.