Creating a vocabulary doodle notebook will help your students practice science vocabulary specifically aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. Vocabulary science doodle notes make great bellringer or independent practice activities! Read on to learn how to create a custom doodle notebook that matches the standards covered in YOUR course!
How do I create a doodle notebook with my students?
- Finding the correct pages for your curriculum
- Printing the doodle note pages you need
- Printing a notebook cover page
- Printing the directions for your students
- Using the interactive links
- Scaffolding the process for your class
How are the pages organized?
Each doodle note page lists the related Next Generation Science standard in the top right hand corner. You will need a copy of your curriculum to find the standards that your course covers before printing our your pages. For example, our 6th grade curriculum covers some Life, a little Earth and Space and a bit of Physical!
What topics do you teach? Do you cover only one discipline OR do you teach a mix of LS, ESS and PS?
If you aren’t totally sure of your standards, or teach in a state that is NOT using NGSS, then use the bundle guide to help you figure out which pages match your topics.
If you are new to Captivate Science Doodle Notes, be sure to read this post about the life science and physical science doodle notes. It gives some more background about how each page is set up and offers a free sample. The entire set of NGSS notes can be purchased here at a discount.
Printing Tips:
It’s time print your pages. I like to use composition notebooks (they stack nicely in bins) but some people like spiral notebooks (allow for larger pages and more room for large student writing). If you choose composition notebooks you will need to print your pages at 85% to fit the page.
I recommend gluing in pages as you go. For example, our first unit covers 4 standards. I have my students glue in the page(s) they will need for the next week or so. It just seems more manageable than gluing them all at the start of the year!
You can have kids make their own cover, decorate the cover with stickers and pictures and/or print a cover! I like to have kids glue the cover on the first page of the journal. I never have a lot of luck with gluing things to the outside hard cover of marble notebooks 🙂
Grab a PDF of free covers to use with your vocabulary doodle notes!
Print and glue in a set of directions for your students to reference. These explain how they will need to use the clickable links to find information to write and doodle their answers!
Interactive Links for Each Page
Now that your pages are printed, cover and directions are glued in, you are ready to access the interactive links! You will need a platform for sharing each link that you want kids to use.
Getting kids started: It is important to do some scaffolding for the first page or so. Once your students learn the ropes they will be able to work on their own. I like to model how do the first few words together. I suggest projecting the interactive page on your board and showing students how to navigate the information. Students will need to READ and watch videos to gather information and many of my kids need me to model that process (at first). I also like to have my doc camera out for the first few words. It helps to show them how to color, draw and write and what a quality example looks like (even though my actual drawing skills can be pretty funny sometimes!)
By creating a custom doodle note journal, you are helping your students build vocabulary for your specific NGSS standards. We know that kids need repeated practice to build understanding and this is another tool to support your students in their science growth!
We are glad you stopped by Captivate Science! Happy Doodling 🙂
Kate
