PERSONALIZED WRITER'S NOTEBOOKS {Teacher Tip #28}

I start each school year by readingJudy Moodyto the class as our first read aloud. It’s a fun book for all grade levels, but is PERFECT for 3rd graders.

Because the book starts off on Judy’s first day of 3rd grade. Hello text-to-self connection!

Icreated a whole bunch of activities that go with the bookand I use them throughout the first week of school in additionto teaching my procedures and routinesand completing some ofthe back to school printable activities I created.

In the book Judy needs to create an All About Me collage as her first assignment. I springboard off of this and we make a collage on the Friday ofthe first week.

Except instead of making it on poster board, we make them on the cover of black and white composition notebooks. They bring in pictures, ticket stubs, articles, brochures, magazine clippings, etc. that tell about them.

And then we Modge Podge the heck out of them to seal them. They look great and last all year long.

I always do this on the first Friday afternoon for a few reasons.

It’s fun…so it introduces “Fun Friday” (the time each week where I sneak in a little craftivity).
Wework on brainstorming ideas for their Writer’s Idea banksthroughout the first week and this way we are ready to hit the ground running on the first full Monday.
All that Modge Podge stinks…so it’s nice to have a few days of “air time.”

Even if you don’t read Judy Moody to your class, I would encourage you to have the kids make personalized journals. They really help them to take ownership of their writing and they make such wonderful keepsakes at the end of the year.

{click here to access and print this document}

ThisFREE printablecontains the letter I use to request families send in the needed items. However, since you may not be reading the book, I have also included a more generic version of the letter. Enjoy!

For more tips and ideas on organizing and managing your classroom please check out my Clutter-Free Guide. This post is part of: