So you want to start an interactive notebook? Welcome to the club! I’ve been using interactive notebooks in my classroom for years. If you want to read all about my unpopular opinions about interactive notebooks, you can read that post here. (Basically the rules are that there are no rules.) Enough chatter: let’s get to it.
Supplies needed to start an interactive notebook
Notebooks
Of course, to start an interactive notebook, you are going to need notebooks. I like composition books, simply because it’s harder for the pages to fall out. In a lot of cases you can get your school to supply these. If you can’t it’s something you can easily put on your supply list for parents to grab. During back to school time, you can get a composition book for around 50 cents. I ask my students to get them, and I buy a few for the students who for one reason or another struggle to get a notebook. (They’re too expensive on Amazon. You’re best off buying in person at Walmart, Target or an Office Supply Store.)
Glue & Scissors
You will also need glue and occasionally scissors. In some schools you need to “sign out” these supplies depending on when you need them. I actually bought a class set of scissors during my first year, and slowly have been replacing the baby sized with adult sized ones (considering I teach high schoolers this is super necessary). I buy my own glue sticks for my classroom. It’s really not super expensive, but I also ask the kids to bring them in in the beginning of the school year. I really just hate the ones my school supplies. My FAVORITES for interactive notebooks are the Elmer’s Resticks. They give the smoothest, least crinkly page of all the types I’ve tried. I’m a loyal “Resticker.” (That’s not a thing, but I made it a thing.)
Documents to start an Interactive Notebooks
Table of Contents
To start off your INB you may need to give your students some starter documents. I give my kids an open-ended table of contents. This page just lists the units of study in order with a space for them to fill in pages numbers (if they choose). Read more about why I’m not a huge fan of the typical table of contents page here.
Rules and Expectations
I give my students 2 pages to go after the Table of Contents. The first is my Classroom Rules and Expectations, where I outline our rules, how to get in contact with me, and when my Extra Help hours are. The second is my page “How to Study.” I find that many of my students were never taught how to study, and chemistry is possibly the first class they will need to study for. I outline 7 tips for them and reference them throughout the school year.
Glossary and Reference Pages
I also give my kids a glossary. I give my kids vocabulary assignments where they need to write the word and definition on notebook paper. Real old school stuff. I like when I know the definition they get easy to read and understand. For chemistry, a google search doesn’t always do that for my high schoolers, so I made my own. I number these pages G1-G25 and have them glue them in backwards. Really they glue page 20 on the last page of the notebook and work forwards. Many people skip the glossary section, or they have the kids write the definitions in themselves. In front of the glossary, we put my state chemistry reference tables.
Printing documents smaller for interactive notebooks
If you are just starting an interactive notebook, you may not know how to print pages small. There are essentially four ways that you can create smaller pages for your interactive notebooks. The first is probably the easiest.
Print 2 Pages per Sheet
You create your regular notes pages in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and then within the same document copy every single page. Your layout would be Page 1, Page 1, Page 2, Page 2 etc. Then when you are ready to print, you’d select “Print 2 pages per sheet.” This will automatically print the pages small, and they will fit in a composition book easily. The set up puts all the Page 1s on one sheet.
You could skip that step and then print page 1 and 2 on the same sheet if you please. This is the original that you’d then put in the copy machine to copy just as it is. All you’d have to do is chop them in half after they come out the copy machine. My school has a guillotine paper trimmer next to the copy machine which I may just be the sole user of.
Copy 2 Pages per Sheet
Second Option is a maybe option, depending on the copying capabilities of your school’s copier. Some copiers will let you put in full size pages, and then set it up so that two pages print on one sheet of paper. This allows you to make your regular notes pages, print them as they are, and have the copier shrink it for you.
DIY by Cutting the Digital in Half
Third Option is the one that I use, and depending on what you teach or your tech abilities can be either really easy or really tough. I make my stuff in Google Slides. First you need to go to File > Page Set Up > Select Custom Dimensions from the drop down box set to 11 x 8.5. Then I create a 1×1 table and stretch it so it takes up most of the paper (leaving room for printing margins).
Then I use text boxes and images to fill the page to what I like. Because I teach chemistry, I use A LOT of images and complex diagrams. It’s usually easier for me to include images I find on the internet than having my students attempt to draw them. I only create the notes on one side of the grid. Then I copy and paste everything into the second box of the grid. The two halves are completely identical. Then I take this sheet to my copier and make only half the number of students I have, because once they come out, you’d chop them in half.
Print at a Smaller Percentage – But You’ll Need to Trim with Scissor
The last option is my least favorite. (I’ll usually opt for Option 2 instead of this one.) You can take ANY FULL size worksheet you have and change your print scale settings to 80. Then your printer will resize the page down to just 80% of the page. Either cut or fold back the leftover margins, and this will fit perfectly in a composition book.
Interactive Notebook Rules
That’s really all you need to start an interactive notebook. Your INB can become WHATEVER you want it to be. There is certainly no INB Police patrolling what goes in your notebooks. My suggestion is to start out doing what you can, and push your creative boundaries once you get a handle on the basics. I’ve been doing INBs for a few years now, and each year they are a little different. As I get better, so do my notebooks. My entire chemistry curriculum is made for interactive notebooks (and full sized pages in case I haven’t convinced you) which you can purchase here.
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