I would like to hear, discuss, debate the why and how of taking notes in elementary school. Do you use interactive math notebooks? Let's take math as the model. How do you have students take notes on math topics such as multiplication. 1. How do you have them take/get notes on multiplication? 2. What specifically do you want them to have in ther notes with regards to multiplication? 3. How do you want them using their notes? 4. How/what do you structure, so that they are given opportunities to use their notes as you want? This topic of using resources came up in another post and I found it very important/initeresting? We often want students to use resources(notes), but don't structure it so that it is really used or reinforced the way we want it to be used. I am interested in other teachers strategies to make note taking authentic and useful in elementary grades and that will transfer into a huge benefit in highschool.
I try to make guided notes. For a topic like multiplication, I will create a note sheet for the left side of their notebook, and leave room on the right side of the sheet for examples. The note sheet I create tends to be a little more procedural based, but I leave space for students to reflect, also. The notes I give are primarily fill-in-the-blank. From my experience, my students simply can't move their hands fast enough to write down everything that would need to be written down. I also like giving them mostly/partially completed notes just to model what a good note-taker does.
When students are doing independent practice, I encourage them to keep their notebooks open. Students are often working with a partner or a small-group, so they can try something independently first, and then compare notes. I also encourage them to take their notebooks home (and more to the point... I let parents know that students should take their notebooks home) for homework, so that parents have a little guide for what we've been doing. As far as the actual notetaking process goes, I'm fairly deliberate about it. Since I essentially use cloze notes, I have students identify what they should write down, and have everybody say it at the same time.
Thank you grade3, I actually use notes the same as you, almost to the tee. the exception being sometimes I give them the notes(complete) or they are expected to write them all. Maybe I should try some cloze activities with it in the future.
I teach second grade. I guide kids through note-taking in math journals whenever we learn a new concept. My goal is that they will refer to these notes when working on problem or worksheet. This week, I also introduced "research". We brainstormed all the sources a person can use to research a topic and then proceeded to use each resource to learn more on our topic (Frog and toads). We then took notes in a science journal after using each source. Then I introduced writing an expository "article" , using our notes for information. (Topic sentence, details, closing sentence, etc). I guide them through their note taking, talking about how only to write phrases, interesting facts, etc. I also help them organize their notes using a graphic organizer before starting our rough draft. I gotta get better at note taking in math!!
Hi, For me, taking notes is kinda important especially to students who cannot easily understand the lessons for further studying at home. I think this will help a lot
I use interactive notebooks in 2nd grade in Math and Reading. My kids LOVE them! I downloaded templates from TPT and use things like flip books, shapes, and flaps to teach my kids the concepts. For multiplication (even though we don't do that in 2nd 'til the end of the year) I would have them draw pictures in their notebooks to show each problem. I love INB because they can take ownership, make it colorful, and draw what ever pictures they like. Then I allow them to take the notebooks home to study. It's a lot better than the traditional way of taking notes. My kids love their notebooks!
