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An interactive notebook is not a notebook that talks to you as you write in it (although that can be very helpful!). This is an innovative way to engage students in teaching, giving them control over their own learning and reference material.
Learn how to build and use interactive notebooks in any middle school subject and classroom. From interactive maths notebooks to grammar guides and geography organizers, you’ll find these resources are the most beneficial way to teach the more complex subjects in your curriculum.
What is an interactive notebook?
Interactive notebooks are student-made reference tools that focus on a specific concept, topic, or topic. These personalized collections can be saved in physical notebooks or digital documents so students can refer to them as needed during the course or throughout the unit.
Typically, these notebooks contain materials that are fun to create and helpful for reference, such as colorful graphic organizers and illustrated glossaries. Other sections of the interactive notebook might be:
- Table of contents
- Foldable notes and pockets
- formula chart
- Logic puzzles and activities
- journey entry
- Achievements and Goal Tracking Charts
If your class uses computers more than paper, you can still make your notebooks interactive! Encourage students to create their own online notebooks using digital resources like Google Slides, PowerPoint, or your district’s preferred platform.
Benefits of using interactive notebooks
While interactive notebooks may require more preparation than standard lecture or textbook notes, they have many benefits that can last an entire unit or school year.
- The interactive notebooks address some important study skills for secondary school, including gathering reference material, organizing and evaluating one’s own learning.
- They encourage students to take initiative in learning and take ownership of their educational experience.
- Personalized interactive notebooks are an effective way to differentiate instruction within a class. Struggling students who need vocabulary lists or reminders in their notebooks can add them, while more independent learners can add more complex course elements such as journal reflections and study group problems to solve.
Interactive notebook resources on core topics
When teachers hear the word “notebook,” they may think interactive notebooks belong in ELA, history, or other humanities courses. But in fact, interactive notebooks are a valuable learning tool for all subjects, including math and science!
Discover how to use these creative reference assignments in core subjects in the secondary school curriculum, with comprehensive resources including printable templates and teaching ideas.
Make ELA a reality with CCSS-compliant notebook resources
Bring ELA skills from novels into the classroom with interactive notebook resources designed specifically for language arts. With components that address reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and more, you’ll find that the ELA Interactive Notebook may be the teaching aid your students have been missing!
Reading Interactive Notebook: Nonfiction Text Activities
Author: Lovin Little
Grade: 4th-8th grade
Subjects: English Language Arts, Informational Texts, Reading Strategies
Standard: CCSS RI.4.1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 5.1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 6.1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 7.2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 8.2, 5, 6, 8, 9; CCRA.R.1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8
This CCSS-compliant interactive notebook resource includes 14 chapters of no-prep ELA informative reading units, ready to add to your teaching toolbox. Each one includes notes and instructions from the teacher, photo examples of the finished product, and printable templates for students to paste into their interactive notebooks.
Comma Rule Interactive Notebook Flip Book
via mixed file
Grade: Grade 6-9
Subjects: English Language Arts, Grammar
Standard: CCSS.L.6.2a, L.7.2a, L.8.2a
How to make grammar rules interactive? Put them into an interactive notebook! Sports-themed ELA resources have everything you need to create an interactive notebook focused on comma use, including a collection of comma templates, commas with introductory phrases, and punctuated quotes and dialogue.
Dive into the interactive science notebook
Science is perfect for interactive notebook lessons. Formulas, lab notes, and teaching diagrams all belong in these one-stop science shops, making your students’ chemistry, biology, and physics notebooks more valuable than ever!
Atomic Counting with Interactive Notebook
bond and james
Grade: 7-11
Subjects: Chemistry, Physical Science, Science
For an interactive science notebook that helps students sort out atomic counting, bring this resource and its printable template to your high school chemistry class. An interactive graphic organizer helps students grasp the nuances of this concept, while practice questions let you check understanding before moving on to the next lesson.
Protein Synthesis Interactive Notebook Activity
Teach science with my heart
Grade: Grades 9-12
Subjects: Biology, General Science, Science
Put away the protein synthesis handouts and hand out a set of biology quick notes to your high school biology students! This interactive and differentiated resource allows students to organize their interactive notebooks to accompany your protein synthesis lessons.
Astronomy and Space Science Interactive Notebook
Author: NGS Magnified, formerly Nitty Gritty Science
Grade: 5-10
Subjects: Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Science
Can you condense the mysteries of space into a notebook? With this interactive notebook resource, you can! Cover astronomy topics such as seasonal cycles, Earth’s tilt and rotation, solar and lunar eclipses, and other NGSS-related concepts with printable templates and engaging activities.
Integrate interactive math notebooks into your unit plans
Interactive math notebooks make “open note testing” a favorite phrase for students to hear! They can write down formulas and practice problems, laws of arithmetic, and tips for algebra and geometry problems.
Exponential Law Wheel Foldable (Great for Math Interactive Notebooks)
Pass math requirements
Grade: Grade 6-9
Subjects: Algebra, Fractions, Mathematics
Are your middle school students struggling with the Law of Exponents? Help them master this basic concept with a foldable math wheel! This helpful resource “folds” nicely into an interactive math notebook, ensuring students always have access to the power law, quotient rule, product rule and more.
Slope and Slope Formula Interactive Notebook Activity
Educational resources via Route 22
Grade: Grade 6-9
Subjects: Algebra, Graphing, Mathematics
Slope lessons can be tricky for new algebra learners, but this interactive math notebook resource makes slope and slope formulas easy to understand. Use this printable template to remind students of definitions, graphic illustrations, ordered counterparts, and more throughout the rest of the ramp lesson and unit.
Use interactive notebooks to record social studies
Historians have been writing about important concepts for as long as history has been recorded. Let your students follow in their footsteps and learn social studies subjects such as history, geography, sociology, and more with interactive notebooks.
Geography and Map Skills Interactive Notebook | Print & Digital
In the middle with Andrea
Grade: Grade 3 to Grade 6
Subjects: Geography, Social Studies
Don’t wait until the geography test to give students study guidance! This interactive notebook serves as a study guide that they can add to and take with them throughout the year. From geographic concepts like the world’s continents to latitude and longitude, printable templates and graphic organizers are great additions to student social studies notebooks.
Exploration Era Interactive Notebook
Preparation by teacher
Grade: 5-8
Subjects: European History, American History, World History
Who is Juan Ponce de Leon? How is he similar to Wilhelm Jansson? During this critical moment in history, help middle school students master the age of discovery with interactive notebook resources. Ten interactive activities with answer keys help you clearly understand names, dates, and settlements as you learn about Europe’s impact on the world at large.
How to make your own interactive notebook
Need an interactive notebook course on a topic not covered above? Follow these tips to create your own interactive notebook materials and units for any middle school subject.
- Have students bring an empty spiral notebook or composition notebook, or prepare a set of classroom notebooks for them.
- Decide how long you want your interactive notebook to last, such as a class, a unit, or an entire year. If it’s a long-term notebook, pass out post-it notes or post-it notes and have students divide the sections. (This prevents you from only using 10 pages of your notebook and wasting the rest!)
- Create templates for each section of the interactive notebook, making them specific to your course or generally useful in other units.
- Make your own sample version of the interactive notebook to show to students if they need help.
- Provide materials such as glue, tape, and art supplies that students have ready to use in case they need to add something to their notebooks.
For digital interactive notebooks, you can skip the physical notebooks and art supplies and put the template into a format your students are familiar with, like Google Slides or Quizlet. They can then consolidate their activities into an online interactive notebook that they can reference on their own device!
Make lessons interactive to engage middle school students
Phrases such as “Where do I find this?” are prohibited. When you take your interactive notebook into your next class, it’s always in your classroom. With important dates, definitions, formulas, charts, and details at their fingertips, your middle school students can become research experts in just a few pages. Find more interactive notebook resources for a variety of subjects and enjoy more engaging classroom plans!
