Silly question about Notebooking

[Peela]

Reading the lapbooking thread made me want to ask this question that's been puzzling me about Notebooking.

To me, either we work in an exercise book- they are what schools use here in Australia, but I think they are called "sewn composition books" over there- except they're often stapled nowaday. May be A4, Foolscap, or smaller than A4. Various numbers of pages available. Lined.

Or we use loose leaf paper- either lined or unlined, typed on the computer or handwritten- and we file them away. If we file it in the bin or a drawer, its not notebooking. But if we file it in a 3 ring binder, and especially if we add a picture, it's called notebooking?

I just don't quite get "notebooking". How else would one do it? Why is it such a fancy word for just what one would naturally do anyway?

What do people do when they're not "notebooking"?

I get you can make it more fancy. But that's the basic concept, right?

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I've seen a couple of lapbooks and they were way more involved than just some completed work and a few pictures. I think they are usually very topical and are a lot like scrapbooking. My impression was that they were a way to "make a memory" of what was learned and accomplished. They can also be used to impress friends and relatives. :-)

[Peela]

I've seen a couple of lapbooks and they were way more involved than just some completed work and a few pictures. I think they are usually very topical and are a lot like scrapbooking. My impression was that they were a way to "make a memory" of what was learned and accomplished. They can also be used to impress friends and relatives. :-)

 

Thanks

I presume you mean notebooks rather than lapbooks?

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I meant lapbooking. I'm sorry if I was mistaken. I've never heard of notebooking and I thought you were using it synonymously.

[Peela]

I meant lapbooking. I'm sorry if I was mistaken. I've never heard of notebooking and I thought you were using it synonymously.

 

:001_smile: Well I don't know much, but I think they are two different things. Lapbooking is where you get a manila folder and fold the edges in and stick stuff all over it, so you get this cute little folder lapbooky thingy.

Notebooking is a way of displaying your ongoing work in a ring binder, I think.

Probably wasn't a good question anyway, thanks for trying. .

[Plaid Dad]

:bigear:

 

Peela, I don't know what the big deal about notebooking is either. For me, a three-ring binder is just a convenient way to organize and store papers. I feel like I'm missing something, too!

[TravelingChris]

I came in late to a seminar at a convention and it seemed like all it was was notebook paper summarizing or with important points written and maybe a picture drawn and stuck into a binder. I don't think that it really makes a difference if you put it in a binder, or use a bound notebook (composition book) or keep the papers in a file or box as long as they are accesible to the child for review.

[unsinkable]

Reading the lapbooking thread made me want to ask this question that's been puzzling me about Notebooking.

To me, either we work in an exercise book- they are what schools use here in Australia, but I think they are called "sewn composition books" over there- except they're often stapled nowaday. May be A4, Foolscap, or smaller than A4. Various numbers of pages available. Lined.

Or we use loose leaf paper- either lined or unlined, typed on the computer or handwritten- and we file them away. If we file it in the bin or a drawer, its not notebooking. But if we file it in a 3 ring binder, and especially if we add a picture, it's called notebooking?

I just don't quite get "notebooking". How else would one do it? Why is it such a fancy word for just what one would naturally do anyway?

What do people do when they're not "notebooking"?

I get you can make it more fancy. But that's the basic concept, right?

 

Peela,

 

I think you have the concept down. I think the opposite of notebooking would be using workbooks made by a textbook company. IMM (in my mind :D )

notebooking is a response or recognition of what you think is important. So if you read a general book about Civil War, you pick out what is important and write it up (narration form or list form). This might be instead of reading a history text book and answering the questions at the end of the section :glare:.

 

Does this help?

[WTMindy]

When I think of notebooking, I don't really think about how it is stored (could be bound, could be in a binder, etc) I think it is more that kids have a chance to be a little creative on the paper. Maybe they draw a picture or make a timeline right on the page. Maybe they write something and illustrate it. Maybe you even do a little mini-book or creative fold and add it to the page. I associate notebooking with being visually appealing so that kids want to go back and look at their work and show it off. I think of it as more than just storing your papers in a notebook.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Or we use loose leaf paper- either lined or unlined, typed on the computer or handwritten- and we file them away. If we file it in the bin or a drawer, its not notebooking. But if we file it in a 3 ring binder, and especially if we add a picture, it's called notebooking?

I just don't quite get "notebooking". How else would one do it? Why is it such a fancy word for just what one would naturally do anyway?

What do people do when they're not "notebooking"?

I get you can make it more fancy. But that's the basic concept, right?

 

 

When the kids organize their work into a binder, and continue to use that binder over several years (or even their whole school career), they have regular opportunities to review and determine how their new knowledge fits in with the old. I think there is definitely an element of, "let's impress the grandparents," but for us it's more of an outgrowth of the organization habit, and a way to let the organization of our work serve the work of teaching the subject.

 

As for adding a picture and making it more fancy (or adding lapbook folds on three hole punched card stock, as we often do) . . . it really is just a more interesting workbook page. I hated filling out worksheets in school. They never went anywhere. The only reason to do them was to do them. But with lapbook folds, we keep them in this keepsake binder that they'll take with them when they're grown, along with their photo album. The kids put more effort into their best work when what they're producing will be on permanent display.

 

PlaidDad, I hope my kids will transition into writing research reports, and these will be put in their binders alongside the lapbook folds and crayoned narrations from their earlier years.

[3lilreds in NC]

Here is a link with some information about notebooking.

 

The definition, according to NotebookingPages.com, is "the coined term for what one may refer to as educational journaling or scrapbooking." I

 

I haven't really done any, but I think it sounds like fun and I hope to incorporate notebooking into our school this next year. I have tried (and failed) lapbooking, but notebooking sounds like what I've already tried to do with keeping the kids' work - this will just let them be a more active part of that.

[kim in ks]

We've used Notebooking for many years, I would sum it up. It's creating their OWN text book! All Maps, writing, drawing, creative descriptions, and photos of their projects on 1 theme go into their "notebook" for example we did a "Human Body" Notebook, Civil War, ETC...

My kids love pulling these notebooks down and rereading THEIR book about a certain thing

http://www.notebookingnook.com/About/FAQ/index.html

Another Link that answers many questions about notebooking!

 

kim

[Plaid Dad]

PlaidDad, I hope my kids will transition into writing research reports, and these will be put in their binders alongside the lapbook folds and crayoned narrations from their earlier years.

 

I'm hoping my dd will get there some day, too! I get each year's work samples (for the state) comb-bound and then tuck them away, but I see that keeping those materials more available to the child could be helpful and inspiring to them. :)

[Peela]

Thanks everyone.

I am getting a much clearer picture, and I think I was confused because I don't remember my own schooling being particularly workbooky, so I hadn't considered notebooking being a novel, unique alternative to workbooks. That makes more sense- I don't know if it's more American to fill out workbooks, or if it was just my own experience was different- at my school, teachers taught and gave assignments, we didn't work through workbooks so much, although I remember using them for French and Latin. I couldn't really see what the big deal was....I just thought thats how everyone did school, for a large percentage of the time.

Mystery solved, thanks.