Math Notebook - Set up

I am starting to shift my focus from decorating to lesson planning. 

Lesson planning is not as fun... Oh well.

I have decided to step up my math notebooks this year, so I have been planning. I really want to tackle our math notebooks (the planning process) unit by unit. This gives me a broader perspective. Now that I have a year under my belt, I know where they need to be in the spring. This knowledge is really influencing my planning. Last year I "knew" what they needed to know because I knew the TEKS, but I didn't have a working knowledge of the types of questions and level of understanding my students would need.

So when I sat down and began planning out our notebooks, I wanted to keep a few things in mind.

1. How do I want the kids to decorate their covers to personalize it?
2. How detailed do I want the Table of Contents to be?
3. Will I follow the customary notebooking rules?
4. Where will I give the students feedback on their notebooks?
5. How will I "grade" these?
6. How should they be organized?

I do want my kids to personalize their notebook covers. This is a great beginning of the year activity. I found these awesome content area coloring pages that will be perfect for their covers! Go check them out.

I will also be adding duct tape to the spines for extra reinforcement and to color code. This makes it easier for students to grab the correct notebook out of their desks.

Now on to the inside...

I am not artistically inclined, so I made the "My Numbers" page on the computer.

My kids last year loved reading my comments. They would get their notebook from me and read the comments on the way back to their seat. 

I will try to remember to find my math chart from last year. It is covered in math information. I had my kids practice adding the information to this sheet. We will be focusing more on it in the fall this year, than we did last year.

HERE is your copy of the pages if you want them!

So, nothing too special, but I do think they are going to be very organized!

I will be posting my first unit, Bar Graphs, tomorrow!

With freebies, of course!