Interactive Notebooks for Chemistry!

 I’m trying something completely new: Chemistry Interactive Notebooks.  I was inspired by the Periodic Table Interactive Notebook because I already do these activities.  It makes sense to do them as part of a notebook.  I know for a fact that jamming these activities into a folder doesn’t make them accessible to study later.  What if teens glued stuff into a composition notebook?  Last year, most of the Advanced Bio students maintained one notebook all year.  I sent out emails requesting families buy composition notebooks.  (I’ll buy a few more, too.  I know my class.). 

Here’s how interactive notebooks work.  You glued stuff into a composition notebook.  You can get fancy and make flaps or windows.  You can attach baggies with materials.  I’ll start with the activities I love and adapt them.  For example, Putting Ions in Their Hands has a data table, ion chart, and baggie of ions.  The students are going to glue the data table, staple the baggies with ions, and put the ion chart in the back of the composition notebook.  Why didn’t I think of this before?  Ever.  

Another example is Periodic Table Coloring.  My Chem classes always annotate periodic tables.  The teens promptly loose them.  I keep a stack.  Instead, we can glue three or four into the notebook.  For example, one periodic table can be just metals and nonmetals, another, different groups, and a third diatomic elements, liquids, and gases outlined.  The fourth can have ions.  We’ll still need stacks of periodic tables when kiddos loose their notebooks—but fewer copies!  We also do activities with Periodic Trends. Right now we do Plotting Trends; I want to add the guided activity to their notebooks.  We can do the models with straws; the notebook plots can also serve as an assessment.  

I did quite a bit of research for examples: Mrs. Farmer’s Interactive Notebook, STEM Center Chemistry Interactive Notebook and Nitty Gritty Science Interactive.  Will mine have a table of contents and a glossary?  Probably not. It also looks doubtful that they will be filled with little flaps and tiny booklets.  However, it might help kiddos keep references in one spot—their notebooks!