Bright Ideas: No prep interactive notebook activities

I don't know about you, but sometimes my best lesson activity ideas come to me right in the middle of the lesson. There is no time to run to the office to make copies, so I've got to raid the closet to make it happen. This has happened several times when I wanted my students to add an interactive component to their notebooks. Luckily, most interactive notebook activities don't require a fancy template, you can whip them up with just a plain sheet of paper, some scissors, and glue!

Even if you have time to prep, there is often no need to copy a template for students. I love teaching them how to fold and cut the paper because it allows them to practice listening skills, work on following directions, and gives them experience with manipulating paper in different ways. Plus it makes them even more INTERACTIVE!

There are so many that I could share, but I narrowed it down to three...the shutter fold, the petal book, and an easy pocket.

 To create the shutter fold...
1. Fold the paper in half and open it up.
2. Fold the sides in to match the center.
4. Cut the shutters. I choose to make six, but you can easily make two to eight.
5. Label the outside and write definitions, examples, draw pictures, etc. on the inside.

 To create the petal book...
1. Fold the paper to make a square and cut off the excess.
2. Open it up and fold the corners in about an inch.
3. Cut off the corners (you can save these and make little flaps for another interactive notebook page!).
4. Fold the "petals" in towards the center.
5. Add the details!

To create the pocket...
1. Fold the paper to make a square and cut off the excess.
2. Keep the paper folded so that it is a triangle. Keep the base of the triangle facing down and the right angle pointing up.
3. Take one of the other points and fold it across the triangle meeting about halfway along the opposite edge.
4. Do the same with the opposite point, lining up the edges.
5. Fold the top point of the top layer of the triangle down over the folded pieces.
6. Flip the pocket over and fold the other layer of the top point.
7. Glue the pocket in, label, and place things inside.

For more bright ideas from other bloggers, please browse through the link-up below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

Simple Machines and Rube Goldberg Inventions

I love science. I love teaching science. But sometimes it takes a lot of extra time and planning to make great science lessons. We are currently working on our Force and Motion unit and we just learned about simple machines. I introduced them with this shutterfold foldable.

Together we took notes on each of the simple machines and coming up with examples of each. Then, I showed them these Rube Goldberg inspired videos:

Honda's "The Cog" video - a Rube Goldberg invention made entirely of (CGI) car parts. 

"The Page Turner"

Ok Go's "This Too Shall Pass" music video. 

And just released this week...

"Girls" from GoldiBlox

I explained to the class about Rube Goldberg and his inventions and showed them his Pencil Sharpener. Warning: some of his inventions are not quite school appropriate (i.e. smoking/alcohol), so preview them before showing kiddos. 

We were inspired to design our own inventions. I encouraged them to use at least three simple machines in their inventions. Here just a few of the creative ideas from my class. 

I was out for two days last week at a district training and my kids finished these up with the (amazing) substitute. I was very impressed with their thoughtful and creative inventions, and they were all excited about them as well. I added the Simple Machines Shutterfold to my TpT store for anyone interested in adding these to their Interactive Science Notebooks.

Lapbooking, and the American Revolution Lapbook

This past year I was introduced to Pinterest, which in turn, introduced me to lapbooks. Lapbooks started in the homeschooling community and are making their way into schools. I was immediately drawn to lapbooks because they encompass areas of creativity with the learning process and comprehending academic content. I find that lapbooks are most conducive to history/social studies. Very few materials are needed to get a lapbook started, which makes them that much better for schools in financial crunch.

As soon as I found lapbooking I knew that I had to try it out in the classroom. While studying Ancient China with my 6th graders we put together comprehensive lapbooks that included: the Silk Road, the silk process, the Great Wall, a timeline of dynasties, Confucious' teachings and sayings, Chinese writing sticks, and more! The students loved putting these together because they were constantly creating different foldables, pockets, and mini-books that they got to fill with their learning. The final product was a compact book bursting with knowledge!

This year I am moving to 5th grade and knew immediately that I wanted get those kids hooked on lapbooks too. I had heard the 5th grade team grumble many times about the dreaded social studies textbook and difficulty finding great activities. Well, I think they will be as excited as I am (and the kids will be) about the lapbooks I am designing for the 5th grade content.

So, I started with the American Revolution.....

Some lapbooks have more "pages", but I knew that I wanted to devote plenty of time to each activity, and to also leave time for other activities besides the lapbook, so I narrowed it down to 7 mini-books/foldables/pockets:

* a timeline accordion book

* causes of the revolution petal book

* life in the battlefield flapbook

* important people pocket and cards

* vocabulary fan

* Continental Army vs. British Army flapbook

* major battles tri-fold

I like that each mini-book/foldable is like a little graphic organizer, and the variety keeps things interesting. I also love that students understand that their textbook is not the sole vehicle for learning, but rather a resource that we use in the process of learning. Rather than assigning pages to read, students are searching for the needed information on their own, making learning meaningful and helping students retain information!

I hope that you will consider using lapbooks with your students too! A quick search online will reveal tons of resources (many free) and ideas! If you are interested in purchasing my American Revolution Lapbook which includes teacher directions, blackline masters for all mini-books/foldables/pockets, reflection page, and scoring rubric, please visit my TpT store.

Have you used lapbooks with your students before? What other ideas do you have for making lapbooks even more meaningful for students?