Improving Your Students' Science Journals

This article consists of a series of strategies to make using science notebook successful for the learner. There are organizational strategies and teaching strategies to read about. Organi... See More

This article consists of a series of strategies to make using science notebook successful for the learner. There are organizational strategies and teaching strategies to read about. Organizational strategies include areas such as notebook structure, scaffolding, and more. Some teaching strategies mentioned in the article include focus questions, calendars and graphs. Even if you are a seasoned teacher reading this article could provide ways to make the use of science journals a better experience for your students.

Use of Science Notebooks in the Classroom

This is a great tool for teachers looking for ways to introduce science notebooks in their classrooms. It discusses what organizational strategies to consider when using notebooks to teach ... See More

This is a great tool for teachers looking for ways to introduce science notebooks in their classrooms. It discusses what organizational strategies to consider when using notebooks to teach science skills. The author discusses the use of scaffolding to help students organize their thoughts. It also shows how the teacher modeled the drawing of organisms, the dating of entries, and the labeling of specific parts of drawings. Students used focus questions, predictions, graphs, and calendars to help learn content.

Menu: Science Notebook - Recipe for Success

The author’s firsthand experiences of guiding second graders as they take notes and record various science processes throughout the school year provide readers with several useful strategies... See More

The author’s firsthand experiences of guiding second graders as they take notes and record various science processes throughout the school year provide readers with several useful strategies to try out. The ideas presented and the process skills the students practiced can be used with all grade levels. Sometimes teachers forget in the older grades that their students need “primary” instruction in how to utilize something as basic as a science notebook. The author’s instructions and explanations are based on her real life experiences and are a recipe for success in any classroom.

Great Beginning Notebook Support

This article would be great for a teacher who is new to notebooking and wants some practical tips on how to use them in the classroom. The author shares her organizational as well as instru... See More

This article would be great for a teacher who is new to notebooking and wants some practical tips on how to use them in the classroom. The author shares her organizational as well as instructional strategies in a clear, easy to understand format.

Science Notebooks- A Menu of Options

This article will help teachers implement the use of science notebooks in the classroom.The author provides scaffolding for a teacher of primary grades to begin using science notebooks as a ... See More

This article will help teachers implement the use of science notebooks in the classroom.The author provides scaffolding for a teacher of primary grades to begin using science notebooks as a regular piece of science instruction. Valerie, a 2nd grade teacher has shared the strategies that work for her in the classroom. She shares the elements of the notebook she feels are important part of the organizational structure such as dates, table of contents and glossary. Content is also considered a critical element of the science notebook so she discusses how to develop focus questions with the children. She doesn't assume her students can be independent in the beginning so she scaffolds by doing things like providing frames for their predictions such as" I predict________ because_____. Real student work is portrayed as part of the article so you can see what the 2nd grade students can do. Valerie is also very aware that one size does not filt all so she provides a menu of options teachers ca