Weekend Warriors: Ideas, Freebies & Giveaways Day 1

Welcome to our new blog hop group called the Weekend Warriors! This month, we'll be bringing you tips, tricks, and ideas to keep your teaching fresh and creative!

Today I'll be sharing with you how I use math interactive journals in my classroom! Although I wish I had used them since the start of my school year, I'm so glad I got to try out my sweet friend Jaime's 3rd Grade Interactive Math Notebook a few months back. Ever since then, they are a huge part of my math workshop time!

I like using interactive notebooks in ELA, Math, and Science/Social Studies throughout the day with my kids. I think they are a great learning tool in the classroom and we use them as a resource for reviewing the standards we've learned and as a reference tool for my students. These notebooks foster independent learning and encourage students to take control of their own progress and reflect on a concept. It's that metacognition that you're trying to aim for...thinking about their thinking! 

Our math interactive notebooks cover the 3rd Grade Math CCSS in a fun and easy way! Each student's journal has a cover, divider tabs for each strand, and student friendly "I can" statements at the top of each journal page. We highlight the objective, discuss and chart any new vocabulary words using our cognitive content dictionary (GLAD strategy). My students totally fight over who gets to be the lucky one to read it aloud that day!

Learning objective in kid friendly "I can" statements

Large tabs to keep each strand of learning organized

We do about 1-2 pages on whatever standard we are working on every day or so. Sometimes we have so many things going on in our weekly schedule, we might only get to our interactive journals 2-3 times a week. The beauty of having these is that YOU get to decide how to use them and what will work best for your students! Here are a few snapshots of what our kids do with them in their notebooks. 

 

Some of my students had major difficulty using regular math notes, losing their handouts or papers, and not remembering the concepts we had just learned about. With our interactive notebooks, my students now have the opportunity to reflect on their math strategies and assess their own learning. The practice putting their knowledge into words both verbally and in writing! It taps into multiple ways of solving a problem and justifying an answer. I also love that it's a way of documenting student growth and progress...like a math portfolio! 

These are the main reasons why I love using them in my classroom:

1. It teaches student responsibility and organization
2. Used as a reference tool by students
3. All students have the same notes in the same place (no more missing papers!)
4. Can be used as a quick informal assessment tool
5. Metacognition (thinking about how they will/have solved a problem) 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out math tips, tricks, and ideas! I'll be back tomorrow with a post on a GLAD strategy that will work wonders for your academic vocabulary lessons! As a thank you, all Weekend Warriors are giving away $10 towards their TpT shop! YAY! Enter using the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to check out all of the fantastic posts from the bloggers below and come back next month for come back in June for Pinspirational June!! Happy blog hopping!

A Burst of First	Sailing Into Second	Crayons and Whimsy	Hippo Hooray for Second Grade
Lucky To Be In First	Bright Concepts 4 Teachers	Second Grade Perks	A Sunny Day In First Grade
Primarily Speaking	Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd	The Tutu Teacher	Saddle Up For 2nd Grade
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