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Recyling and Notebooking





In one of my last posts I said that I was going to try and recycle paper when putting together the notebook pages I give to my students. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! I have teachers recycle paper all the time in the copier room so we can use them for rough drafts or math scratch paper but it never occurred to me to use them to run off my copies (the other side is firmly glued to the book so students will never see the other side).
Here is my first attempt in pictures. The top picture shows the master copy and the scratch paper I was going to use (I think this teacher ran off too many of one sheet). NOTE - In another attempt to save paper I try my hardest to keep all my information on one side of the paper and then I copy the same text to the other side so I get two for one (instead of running off 44 sheets I now only have to run off 22 sheets). This means that I sometimes make my text pretty small. In the sheet above I used 8 font. I try not to go lower then 10 font but I've done 8 with no students complaining, so I feel fine using it from time to time. This may not work with younger students.
The second picture shows my copies and an example of what their backs look like. The last picture shows it glued to the book. You can see that the darker black on the other side shows through some but I explained to students what I was doing and they were all for it. I don't think they would have noticed if I hadn't have said anything but I am trying to keep a running list of ways we can/are helping the environment and I wanted to add this to our list.
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Jane Hake said…
I've been looking over old posts nd getting lots of ideas for notebooking. This spring, I am going to do notebooking for the first time for an outdoor nature unit. Trying to anticipate any pitfalls...what about lost or "left at home" notebooks. Do you let students take notebooks home to work on? Suggestions on how to get students to focus on quality work ? These samples look so carefully and thoughtfully done!
February 23, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Eve Heaton said…
I don't let my notebooks go home. I ran into a huge problem when I taught sixth grade last year and decided that keeping them in the classroom was the best bet because I used them everyday. Now, my team teacher didn't have the same fear that I had in regards to "left at home" notebooks and let hers go home with students to work on. If I remember correctly she often had students who "left them at home". They were still responsible for the work and usually did it on loose leaf paper and glued it into the book later. As far as quality, you are going to get a mixed bag of student work. The samples you see here are some of my better students work. I definitely have some students who don't take as much pride as I would like but that is generally reflected throughout all their school work. You might try showing students what you are looking for (although if you want original work they tend to copy whatever you show them..sigh). You can make up an instructional booklet with examples and they can refer back to it (I know one teacher who does that and gives it to them at the beginning of the year so the students know exactly what makes up quality work vs. shoddy work). I would love to see your students work when complete!

Eve
February 24, 2009 at 6:29 AM
Marla Teal said…
I have been reading through your posts from the beginning. I am really interested in starting these in science next year. It looks like the students will get much more in depth learning. However, I was wondering where do you get the text that you type up for them. If is summaries from the textbook or do you write from scratch pulling from different resources? Thanks for all this wonderful help!!
Marla Teal
5th Grade
Science/Math
Clay County
Florida
June 19, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Eve Heaton said…
Marla -

I get my text from a variety of sources. Those include textbook, internet, and those practice test workbooks that come with the book series or from companies that specialize in test prep for state examinations. I just ordered the science test prep book for fourth grade from contemporary publishers at http://www.contemporarypublishing.com/. I noticed that they also carry books for Florida's FCAT test. Not sure if that is helpful or not but thought I would mention it. I found the first year the most time consuming getting all the information together but I am hoping just to tweak what I have this year.

Eve
June 21, 2009 at 7:51 PM
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