So many notebooks

Okay, so I have this thing about notebooks. I like them. A lot. For some reason I am in love with the idea of a bunch of paper bound together in such a way that I can transport it with me wherever I go without fear of losing the pages. This appeals to me as a person, but also as an intermediate teacher. At the beginning of the year, kids are pretty organized. And by pretty organized I mean that they have mostly empty binders. We begin the process of filling them up on the first day. Outlines, expectations, get to know you activities, rubrics, etc. We punch holes and dutifully insist on the 'snapping' sound of opening and closing binders. We walk around and make sure they are putting things in. We give them Table of Contents sheets. "Yes!", we think to ourselves. "This year, we will have organized students." We proudly write "Organized Notes = Organized Minds!" across the top of our white/black boards. This year, we vow, will be different.

And then October hits. And by this time, at least one kid in each class has a 'binder of doom.' You know what I mean. That binder that has every single piece of paper from every class every teacher has ever given him/her and it's just all shoved in there. Hole punched, you say? No matter. This binder has mostly empty rings.  This. makes. me. crazy.

I am in the process of re-thinking how I have my students organize their work. For me, the binders and duo tangs just aren't cutting it. So this year, I have decided that my students will have a series of notebooks. Yay notebooks!  My literacy program is already built upon a solid notebook foundation. A few years ago I read "Notebook Know How" and "Notebook Connections" by Aimee Buckner and it revolutionized my literacy program. (Go. Buy them. Read them. Now.) And I began to wonder, if it works in my literacy program, why can't it work in my mathematics program as well?

I have dabbled in the Interactive Notebook previously, but this year...we are going there, all in. In addition to a carefully constructed interactive notebook, I have decided that my students will also have a free-form scrapbook notebook in which to write their mathematical thoughts, ideas and questions. Sort of the mathematical equivalent to a writer's notebook. I think my kids need a place to write down their thoughts, to work out different possible solutions, to brainstorm problem-solving approaches. This will be new to them. It will be new to them. There will be growing pains. Oh yes... and there will be piles of notebooks to organize and transport and store. But all those pages will be bound in, let me tell you.

So, we will have notebooks. I have 2 other notebooks that I'd like them to have, but it might be overkill. Or it might not. "So many notebooks, part 2?"