Fun Friday Resources

I was fulfilling my Lichtenbergian duties the other day by cleaning out my study rather than working on Ten Little Waltzes when I came across this:

It is, clearly, a NoteSketch book made by Bienfang. I’ve become so enamored of the Field Notes Brand notebooks that I had completely forgotten how useful the NoteSketches are as WASTE BOOKS.

It was the NoteSketch that first showed me the benefits of not writing between the lines. With half the page a blank sketchbook and the other a lined notebook it gives you the best of both worlds, and it didn’t take me long to realize I didn’t have to obey either half.

Above are some notes towards a 5th grade lesson plan on refining research questions to find more reliable, meaningful answers. I could do both mindmaps, regular notes, and then plaster snippets of info all over the page. (For those just joining us, I was a school media specialist for most of my 35-year career, and for the last fourteen years I loved working at Newnan Crossing Elementary.)

This is some thought processing on the problem of using Accelerated Reader® as a crutch rather than as a tool, particularly with low-level readers.

And finally, here’s some planning for my insanely marvelous lesson on Frederick Douglass and Mary Bethune. (Did you know that they were BFFs?)

They are not as portable as the Field Notes WASTE BOOKS, but if you’re in the habit of toting around a larger notebook anyway, I highly recommend the NoteSketch books.