The INs and Outs: Interactive Notebooks {A Blog Series}

FUN FACT
I actually started this blog 2.5 years ago to document my journey, successes, and failures with interactive notebooks, but then I ended up posting a bunch of random thoughts about my classroom, teaching, and life in general. So I'm thinking it's time to get back to my roots!

SO WHO DO I THINK I AM ANYWAY???
Here's a brief history of my experience with interactive notebooks (INs). In the summer of 2012 I went to a 2 day training with Jane Pollock (co-author of Classroom Instruction that Works, and author of Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time, and her book that has most of her information on INs is Minding the Achievement Gap One Classroom at a Time) on how to implement INs. At that time, I was the only K-2 teacher at my school (and perhaps the only one in my district, but I can't remember now) who was on this pilot committee. During the 2012-2013 school year, I used INs in science. One of my teammates was also interested in INs, so we developed lessons & units together and saw AWESOME engagement! We alternate between science and social studies, and I remember how unenthusiastic my students were when we would switch to social studies. That year, I met with the pilot group once a month to share successes and failures, as well as three times that year one-on-one with Janie. Towards the end of the year, my third teammate saw all the amazing things our second graders were learning with the notebooks, she decided to jump on board with us. That summer, I attended another 1 day training with Janie on using INs in the primary classroom.
The following year in 2013-2014, my two teammates and I were so completely sold on INs that we jumped in the deep end of the pool! We used INs in reading, writing, phonics, science, and social studies that year. I also used one in math, while the other two chose not to. Since my district uses a math series (EveryDay Math), I found it to be harder to use an IN in math because we also have student workbooks.

This year (2014-2015), I am continuing to use INs in all subject, but this year, I'm tweaking them to including more engaging application activities for my lessons, specifically in phonics. You may have seen my phonics interactive notebook products in my TpT store. Additionally, I am also writing my Professional Development Plan for my Wisconsin Teaching Licensure on using INs in the classroom, which I will be submitting at the end of this school year.

So, in my opinion, I think I know what I'm talking about :) Am I an Interactive Notebook Queen? Not by a long shot! I still have plenty to learn, and I certainly don't want to come across as a know-it-all snob. My goal is to show you that everyone can create and implement interactive notebooks lessons and units.

THE PLAN
So now that you know a little about my background and history with interactive notebooks, here's my plan. For the month of February, I will be sharing 7 additional posts to show how I plan and teach with interactive notebooks. Here's the line up:

PSSST! You're reading the first post in this series right now! :)

I'm not going to set specific dates for each post (in order to retain as much of my sanity as possible!), but I'll be sure to let you know on Facebook and Instagram when a new post goes live.