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This is printed front and back. The template can be modified to include the details or not. I am using this in my small group for my high babies to do as a book report.

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Use this video to introduce students to interactive notebooks or even parents at the beginning of the school year. It would make a great first week activity for kids and even an open house/curriculum night video for parents.

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I get asked lots of questions about getting started with notebooking and implementing it into your homeschooling schedule. I know how overwhelming it can be trying something new and different wondering if it's going to work. With over 9 years of notebooking under my belt (and 15+ years homeschooling in all), I can tell you that notebooking is easy to implement and is going to be worth your time and effort. Your homeschooling days will be more meaningful and fun! So, let's get started!

Notebooking is ...

Notebooking is today's trendy educational term for the ageless discipline of keeping a journal. Kings, explorers, scientists, artists, writers, statesmen, and mothers have all kept notebooks and journals (or perhaps scrolls depending on the time period). These books are priceless in the same way your family's scrapbook or photo album would be. They capture a very personal journey. Your child's notebooks will do the same. They will capture his journey of learning. His notebooks will not only record the knowledge he acquires, but also capture his memories, his personality, his developing writing voice and creative talents.

Components of Notebooking

Notebooking can be used with or without curriculum as well as left up to the child to determine what he wants to study for his notebook(s). Written narrations, copywork, timelines, reports, lists, observations, drawings, maps, and photographs are just some of the items that he may include in his notebook. The pages he creates for his notebooks will combine the new knowledge he has learned as well as his own personal reflections of what he has learned. The finished notebook will be a treasure for years to come as he reviews all that he's learned and admires the elements he brought to the topics through his own writing.

There are two primary components used in the creation of the notebook:
a written component

a visual component

These two components work together to show what the child has learned. Instead of filling in the blanks of a worksheet to test what your child has learned, you give him the opportunity to show and tell what he has learned. This method requires more than memorizing a few key facts in order to later pass a test.

Notebooking disciplines your child to soak up the most important and interesting information from the subject. The pressure to perform and memorize info for the test is eliminated. Instead, he has the freedom to choose what parts he wants to study more deeply or intently. He owns the learning experience.

Unlike traditional methods, he will not soon forget what he has learned. Instead, he will own the knowledge and be able to express it to others. He becomes a storyteller, a teacher, and in some cases an expert after spending such quality time with his studies. It's an enriching experience and one that neither of you will want to trade for your former methods of learning.

A Typical Notebooking Experience

Let's say you are doing a study of the late Middle Ages and the current topic is Marco Polo. You and/or your child will read (or watch or visit) any variety of sources on Marco Polo. From the readings, your child will orally tell back to you (narrate) what he has been read. This process of "telling back" creates mental notes of what he just learned and begins the creative process needed for writing down his narrations later. This is the basis of the written component. This written component may be expressed in a variety of ways in their notebook: through written narration(s) of any number of topics regarding Marco Polo's life, a mini-book of interesting facts learned about Marco Polo, copywork from one of the books read and/or a quote from Marco Polo, a poem, a list of new words (with brief definitions) learned during their study, and so on.

During the study, your child will undoubtedly form mental pictures from the stories read. We want him to capture these as well. This forms the basis of the visual component. The easiest way to express this mental picture would be through some form of drawing or painted picture. In this case, he would likely also include a map of Polo's travels. He may want to decorate his pages with borders or other clipart from the time period (or not). Other visual elements may be added: a timeline of the events in Polo's life, a picture of Marco Polo (maybe from an online search, clipart collection, or timeline figure), a cover of an interesting book he read on this subject, a coloring page, and so on. There are no limitations to what may be included in his notebook.

Through notebooking, your child will develop a variety of skills - listening skills, narration skills, organization skills, artistic skills, and more. The combining effect of these skill is the most rewarding ... to extract the most important and interesting information from a study and organize it in such a way that "teaches back" what has been learned. Some of the most influential people in history were self-taught and learned to communicate effectively. Your child will learn to do both through consistent use of notebooking.

Once a child finds his "groove" with notebooking, encourage him to explore his interests, not just his school studies. For years to come, you both will enjoy his created notebooks.

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What is Notebooking? | NotebookingPages.com

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I get asked lots of questions about getting started with notebooking and implementing it into your homeschooling schedule. I know how overwhelming it can be trying something new and different wondering if it's going to work. With over 9 years of notebooking under my belt (and 15+ years homeschooling in all), I can tell you ...

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Make math learning fun and effective with Prodigy Math Game. Free for students, parents and educators. Sign up today!

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Learn how to mind map in one minute with our free tutorial! For further information please visit www.ilariafioravanti.com

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Haven't you heard that mind mapping with children is an excellent way to spark creativity from the young ones?!

If you want to help your kids express their creativity while teaching them at the same time to effectively organize their thoughts and ideas then mind mapping with children is the best solution for them and you. Not only is mind mapping a good way to help them explore their creativity but it's an excellent way to help your kids realize that studying can be fun and enjoyable.

In this article we will take a look at some mind map examples for kids and learn simple ways to mind map like Tony Buzan does.

Benefits of Mind Mapping with Children

There is a secret formula to encourage your kids to love studying. Now you can teach them the secret on how to easily come up with bright ideas, how to effectively solve problems, and how to remember things better.

Are you excited to know all about it?!

Tony Buzan, the inventor of mind mapping discussed in his book Mind Maps for Kids - An Introduction, the different uses of mind mapping that kids can definitely benefit from.

What are mind maps for kids as explained in the book?

Mind mapping for kids by Tony Buzan is an easy and enjoyable method to get information into and out of the brain. In fact it is a new way of studying and revising as well as an excellent technique for note taking. Mind maps basically help kids to come up with new and unique ideas, it also help them to plan for projects, as well as help keep the boredom away when doing homework or preparing for an exam.

Why does mind mapping appeal to children?

A mind map is made of words, colours, lines, and pictures. All these elements when combined together in a visual representation are very attractive to children. It captures their attention and motivates them more to stay focused on what they're doing.

Because they enjoy what they see it becomes easier for them to study. It eases the boredom so they have more fun.

Mind mapping is certainly your children's secret weapon to help them remember better, come up with creative ideas, save time, get better grades, excel at school, and most importantly have more fun.

Examples of Mind Mapping with Children

Not only adults like us can enjoy mind mapping. The mind map for kids examples shown below are proof that children can also have fun and learn tons when mind mapping.

Below is a sample mind map I got from a blog post discussing about simple child rearing tips with the use of mind mapping. You can see in the illustration how vast a child's creativity is and how a mind map can help them express their thoughts and ideas about a particular topic.

As you can see from the main topic which is "Animals" the mind map expanded to several branches of ideas. You wouldn't get the same result had it been written down in a linear fashion.

When you ask your kids to do the same exercise allow them to have a moment to themselves and let them write as much as they can or as wild as they can. The wilder the better!

More mind map sample!

Mind mapping is like your children's magic wands and ultimate secret tool to help them express themselves better and understand themselves more.
Let Your Child Enjoy Their Mind Map Today!
What are you waiting for? Grab along your kids and join the rest of those who have discovered the secret formula, ready to be used by children. No need to put up a fight with your kids when you ask them to make their homework or force your way in to their rooms just to have them study their lessons.

Other good news is that you can teach your little ones how to make use of those software tools that can make their mind mapping activities more interesting and fun. MindMapper is one of the examples of these excellent tools you can use to mind map with your kids.

So go ahead, enjoy the benefits of mind mapping with children today!

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Mind Mapping With Children Is FUN And Easy! | MindMaps Unleashed

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Haven't you heard that mind mapping with children is an excellent way to spark creativity from the young ones?! If you want to help your kids express their creativity while teaching them at the same time to effectively organize their thoughts and ideas then mind mapping with children is the best solution for them and you.

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Persida and William Himmele are a husband-and-wife teacher team who have conducted over 500 presentations around the world and coauthored the book Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. They are both professors in the education department at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, and are passionate about designing cognitively engaging learning experiences.

In this blog post and podcast episode, Persida Himmele joins us to explain what a total participation technique is and how teachers can provide access to higher-order thinking opportunities for all students. We'll go through 5 specific examples which you can use in your classroom today.
Click the player below to listen to my conversation with Persida, or use the download button to get the MP3 and listen on the go!
What are Total Participation Techniques and why are they so important?

TPTs allow you to maximize the amount of learning that can take place by getting every student involved, instead of just calling on a few kids.

Persida explains, "They started off as a recommendation for teachers working with ELLs, to help students focus by keeping them accountable. The Total Participation Techniques are ways to get evidence that every single student is with you at the same time and ensure they're using higher-order thinking."

How "the ripple" can provide access to higher-order thinking opportunities for all students

"One of the things that we tend to fall back on as teachers is the traditional Q&A, where we shoot out a question, and basically whoever raises their hand gets to answer the question. Total Participation Techniques is flipping that," says Persida.

Picture a ripple in the water. It starts with the initial plunk of a pebble in a pond, which would be every individual student being accountable to answering the question or prompt. From there, it ripples out into pairs or small groups, and then from there, the outer ripple of addressing the whole group with a traditional Q&A.

Persida explains that the ripple effect is especially important when we're talking about higher-order thinking skills, because higher-order prompts require more time for students to process, particularly with kids who are shy, have special needs, are gifted, or are English language learners particularly. The ripple gives them time. "Total Participation Techniques are kind of all using that mentality where we first start with the individual, and then we ripple out."

If you want to find out what students know, calling on them in class should be the last thing you do

Persida explains that there ARE instances when you can simply call on students, but not for higher-level thinking prompts that require more time to process.

"The whole idea behind The Ripple is that I am no longer just calling on a kid. When the question is something that I want every student to show me evidence that they understand, then calling on someone is going to be the last thing I do. I'm first going to want to get evidence from every individual student, and then I'm going to let them process it together quickly, and then it's OK to call on them.

"When you call on a student, everyone else is off the hook. It's really got to be a mindset of, 'I want evidence that every student is learning. How am I going to do that?' When it's important enough for everyone to learn, you ought to make sure that every single student is going to give you that evidence."

5 examples of Total Participation Techniques you can use right away

Figuring out if every student is learning can be simple. There are Total Participation Activities that will take a long time, and can even comprise the majority of the class period, but there are others that will take two minutes.

There are five chapters in the book, each one with a different type of Total Participation Technique. Here's an explanation of each category, and an example of each.

Chalkboard Splash is an on-the-spot activity that doesn't require any planning or paper. With the Chalkboard Splash, you just come up with your prompt and say to the students, "I want you to answer the prompt at your desk quickly."

Have students boil their answer down to 15 words or less, and write it at their seats. When they're ready, they can come up to the board and copy their response for the class to see. It usually takes about three minutes for all students to finish and trickle up to the board.

Persida says, "Typically we ask the students to look at what their peers have written and sum it up. What are some commonalities or big ideas that they see emerging from what others have written? They can also look for surprises. You can ask, 'What are some things you didn't really think of and you see that your peers have written down?'"

The Chalkboard Splash is "just a neat way to get a response and visualize or look at what your students are thinking about what you just taught. Use it whenever you find yourself thinking, 'I wonder how they're processing this.' Sometimes I will have it written right into my lesson plans, but sometimes it's just on-the-spot, a sort of 'So what? How should we feel about this? What is the big idea here?' The students take that big idea and put it in their own words, 15 words or less."

Hold-Ups can be used from kindergarten through college whenever you have a set choice of options for a topic you're discussing. Students have the different answer choices written down, and then they hold up the card for the one they choose.

As an example, Persida says, " One that we use a lot - you can use with anything - is the true, not true, true with modifications, and unable to determine for specific reasons. That fits anything, so those cards are already made up. We have little TPT zip close bags that have materials we always use, and that's in there, because you never have to reprint those.

"So the idea is that you're sort of thinking about the types of responses you can use for multiple activities, that way you don't have to do this every time. Each of those four cards is already pre-printed, pre-cut, they're inside a zip close baggie. The kids just pull out their baggie at the beginning of the activity, and then they can just hold up the card as you go through the questions."

TPTs Involving Movement: Feature Walk

Movement perks students up so that they're ready to listen for longer stretches of time, so Total Participation Techniques that involve movement (like the Feature Walk) can be really engaging. Persida explains, "When you find yourself with a text that has a lot of features, pictures, diagrams, maps, charts, tables, etc., that text would be an ideal chapter to use for a feature walk. We photocopy each of the features, so maybe there's five, and we enlarge them to the size of a sheet of paper and we hang them on the wall.

"We divide up the class so that they each go to one of the features and we give them specific prompts that they need to respond to that are related to the features. Then we ring a bell after they've answered their prompts, and they move either clockwise or counterclockwise to the next feature. They're looking at the feature, responding to prompts. What is the feature telling us? Why is it important? Why did the author include it? And then the bell rings and they go on to the next feature."

During the Feature Walk, you might want to include sticky notes where students can respond. They simply leave the sticky notes there or on the back of their own papers, and then go ahead and rotate to the next feature.

Kids spend no more than five minutes in each spot of the rotation, and Persida says this "really helps them process what was meaty in the chapter, because oftentimes the features contain important information that kids don't always stop and think about."

Guiding Notetaking: Pause, Star, Rank

Pause, Star, Rank allows students to stop and look at all of their notes, and then put a star next to anything that is important. Students then take whatever they've starred, choose the top three, and rank them. That top-ranking item is oftentimes put into a Chalkboard Splash to share with the class.

Persida says, "I've done this with over 200 people at one time, and it's really cool to see what they all thought was important. Each person has different take-aways.It gives you a lot of windows into a student's thinking process and their personalities too. What do they value? What resonates with them? What connects for them? It's very personal, and yet it gives them time that they needed to process."

The wrap-ups chapter of the Total Participation Techniques book has techniques that allow students to sum and reflect on the most essential components of what they've learned.

One example is called the 1, 2, 3 o'clock. Students use their "Appointment Agenda" to gather appointments. These are determined in advance, often on the first day of class with students, by having every student walk around and make appointments with each other. That way you can say at any point in the school year, "Meet up with your 2 p.m. appointment," and the students already will be paired.

This gives you a quick and easy way to pair kids up with people they're comfortable with, because they've chosen these 12 people. So if there's someone in the room they're not comfortable working with, those people won't be on their clock. These are 12 people they have agreed to work with.

So to wrap up your lesson, you can tell students to get with a certain partner and reflect, sum up, complete an exit ticket, and so on.

Benefits of using Total Participation Techniques

You aren't wasting time try to figure out which students are learning during a lesson and which students are stuck, because the TPTs allow you to observe growth as it happens.

It shifts classroom culture so that students are more comfortable with one another. Persida says her college students "have started talking to each other outside of the classroom as well, like in the hallways. It's harder not to say hello to a student that you've talked to in class and you've had interactions with, so the classroom community was stronger."

You get more insight into students' thoughts because students share more. This builds connection and rapport.

The techniques counter teacher bias and help ensure equity in participation. Persida explains, "When you have only certain students answering your questions, the students who haven't had a whole lot of success with school are not necessarily getting the same learning time that the others are. TPTs really do provide a simple way of getting more equity among students."

You don't need a ton of strategies-just pick a couple techniques and rotate them through your lessons!

I shared with Persida that I think a lot of teachers run into the trap of wanting a different activity or learning strategy for every lesson, and we both agreed that's not necessary. I've found that if you have 10 to 15 strategies that you rotate through over and over, the kids learn and expect them, and then you're not wasting time in class explaining and trying to make sure kids know what to do.

Having read the first edition of William and Persida's book, my advice is to pick one or two strategies from each of the 5 categories, and put them into regular rotation in your teaching practice. Get the kids really familiar with them so they come naturally to you and your students, and then you can switch things up throughout the school year.

Persida adds, "We have a chapter in the second edition of the book about the most common pitfalls, and one that we see is where teachers are so enamored with an activity that they'll force it. Instead, look at your goal. What is it you're trying to teach? What is the content? And then choose the activity from that point. Oftentimes, it is the same activity you used yesterday. It does not have to be 20 different things. It's all about the learning. It's not about the activity. Are they learning? And what evidence can you get that they're learning? That's really got to be key. It's not the activity that's going to do it. It's your mindset, really, that whole shift of 'show me that you learned it'."

Learn more at TotalParticipationTechniques.com,
or check out the second edition of the book which was just released. This post is based on an episode from my weekly podcast, See blog posts/transcripts for all episodes Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes Subscribe to the podcast in Stitcher Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers . A podcast is like a free talk radio show you can listen to online, or download and take with you wherever you go. I release a new 15-20 minute episode each Sunday and feature it here on the blog to help you get energized and motivated for the week ahead.

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5 total participation techniques to make every student an active learner

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Persida and William Himmele are a husband-and-wife teacher team who have conducted over 500 presentations around the world and coauthored the book Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. They are both professors in the education department at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, and are passionate about designing cognitively engaging learning experiences.