Science Journals Made Easy

Okay, so I used to want my students to make the best-ever, award-winningest ;) science journals, interactive notebooks, spirals....whatever you want to call them.  I tried the only put work on one side, so I can comment on the other side.  I tried mapping out different sections.  I tried just about every idea I came across.  Then one summer, I went to a 45 minute workshop on science journals, and it revolutionized my way of thinking about them.  The presenter said, just have the kids put their work in there!!!  Wow, could it really be that easy?  I had in the past NOT put everything in, because it wasn't cute enough, or awesome enough, to be included in our best-ever science journals.  So, more often than not, my journals were barely used and barely filled.  After that conference, I set out to do just as she had told us.  Have the kids put EVERYTHING in there.  Whether it was an ugly not-so-cute printout from our district curriculum or the cutest gosh darn foldable you ever did see, it didn't matter...it was going in by golly.  I have been doing this for the last four years, and it is amazing.  Now, I L.O.V.E. my class journals.  They are bursting by the end of the year with all of the learning that we did together.  They hold glued in bits of leaves and soil, drawings, graphs, foldables....literally anything we do in science.  If it is made on a piece of paper, it is getting glued in our journals.  Sometimes, I make the district curriculum handouts in a cuter font if I have time, and sometimes I don't bother with it.  They still come out perfect each year.  Now, my tips for success:

1.  As with all things teaching: Model, Model, Model.  I have my own science journal (which you can see in the group of pictures), and I do (almost) everything they do in my own journal too.

2.  Make class anchor charts, KWLs, etc. in your science journal.  Then you can pull them back out, and put them under the document camera all year for the kids to refer to.

3.  Buy stock in the glue-stick of your choice, because you are going to buy a ton of it!  Liquid glue just isn't a good idea for most things in the journal, because the pages will get stuck together if it gets too wet.  If you do have to use liquid glue, like we did for these texture hands, do the page outside of the journal and let them dry overnight.  Then have the kids glue the paper into their journal with their handy dandy glue stick the following day.

4.  Use composition notebooks if at all possible...they don't fall apart.

5.  I do make my own handouts for the students to fill out if they are doing discovery type stations, which are often not included in our district curriculum.  We set the timer for them to explore and discover, and then when the timer goes off, they record their learning on a recording sheet.  (There are examples of some I made for sound, light, and magnets in the pictures.  If you click on the picture, you can download them.)

6.  Nothing is too minor to go into a science journal.  It is literally a journal of everything they learned in science for a year, so even if it's a picture of what weather means to them....put it in there!

Good luck with your science journals!  I hope you love them as much we love ours!

How to Remove Permanent Marker or Dry Erase Marker!

I see pins all the time about how to remove marker, but I never click on them.  That's because I already  have the answer to that nagging question.  :)  About 13 years ago I worked at a daycare.  All of the kids brought bottles of sunscreen, so that we could put it on them for outside play.  Of course we labeled all the bottles with a sharpie as they arrived, so that we would put the right kind on the right child.  The problem was, the names always rubbed off after a few applications.  I tested my theory that the sunscreen on my hands was the culprit, and sure enough I was right!  Ever since, I have used sunscreen to remove permanent marker from all kinds of things.  This works great if kids move in the middle of the year.  I can just wipe their names off of laminated name tags, book box labels, and posters.  Then I write any new student's name in their place.  Also, I used to write on the desk nameplates before I laminated them.  Sure enough, I always messed up at least one.  Now I laminate first, and then if I mess up, I can just wipe it right off.  This has worked on any smooth surface that I have tried it on, plastic bottles, laminated surfaces, dry erase boards, student desks, kidney table, etc.  It also works like a charm for dry erase markers that didn't quite erase all the way.  I often laminate game boards, and let students use markers, but after a while the dry erase leaves a red, blue, black, or green film on them.  I tell the kids that it is my magic potion, and they are in awe.  :)  I just squeeze a drop of sunscreen on a tissue without letting them see the bottle and wipe it away.  Now the pictures show Hawaiian Tropic, but it has worked with other kinds as well.  I just bought this one, because it was small, cheap, and fit in my purse.  (I also use it when I'm stuck out in the Texas sun during the summer unexpectedly, because I will burn faster than you can say boo.)  It only takes a small amount.  I have been using this teeny travel sized one from Target since last year.  I hope you find this as useful as I do!