Turning Any Worksheet into an Interactive Notebook Activity

Interactive notebooks are all the rage right now.  We all know that that when students interact with learning in various ways (visually, kinesthetically, orally, etc) the information seems to stick with them better.

I have a few interactive notebooks products in my TpT store with pretty easy foldables for students to use.  My interactive notebook philosophy is that if students can quickly assemble the flip book, it is worth the extra two minutes that it takes to cut and glue it into their notebook.  The more complicated the flip book, the more valuable minutes of instruction are used.  Do I really want to spend 10 minutes while the kids cut out a pocket and a bunch of tiny little cards to fit in it and glue it into their notebook only so the pieces get lost a few days later?  Nope…although I will agree that those pockets do look adorable.   I just like to keep it simple while still allowing the students to get that kinesthetic movement in, which they desperately need.  Who wants to be sitting and writing all day?  I sure don’t!
Well, one of my customers and Facebook followers graciously shared with me how she uses some of my products, not originally intended to be for interactive notebooks, in her students’ interactive notebooks.

What she did was take the reading comprehension pages from my Animals unit, reduced it by 80% on the copy machine, and had her students cut and glue into their science notebooks.  They highlighted the important parts of the reading passage and completed the diagram on the bottom.

Now, trimming the edges to fit this into the notebook and gluing it probably took all of 2 minutes, but it will serve as a great reference to the students throughout their animals unit.  Using this strategy, you could take almost any worksheet you have in your classroom, reduce it, and have students use it in their notebook.

There are so many different ways you use interactive notebooks with your students.  They love them, are engaged, and as a result, have a notebook filled with rich content that will help them throughout the year.  This is just another example of how you can make interactive notebooks with for you if you have limited time.

If you’re interested in the unit where the above example was taken from, you can take a look at it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.