Creating Journals with Book Creator: Activity Ideas for Every Classroom

Creating Journals

with Book Creator

Activity Ideas for Every Classroom

by Dr. Monica Burns

Contents

About the Author ....................

Introduction ........................

Back-to-School Journals .............

Science Experiment Journals .........

Community Interview Journals ........

Summertime Journals .................

Healthy Eating Journals .............

Feelings Journals ...................

Reading Journals ....................

Brainstorming Journals ..............

Inquiry Journals ....................

Goal Setting Journals ...............

Digital Portfolios ..................

Teacher Spotlights ..................

03

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28

Introducing

Monica

Dr.

Burns

About the Author

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Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, EdTech & Curriculum Consultant, and Book Creator Ambassador. She is the author and co-author of numerous books, including Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and lots of Book Creator resources!

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Introduction

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Why journals? Journals are a fantastic way for students to share their progress, gather ideas, and reflect on their experiences.

A multimedia journal lets students go beyond adding text to the page to include:

+ photographs
+ images
+ video
+ links
+ narration
+ and more!

Journals might have a structure, but can still provide lots of space for students to be creative and decide on how to capture their thinking.

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Best

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Practices

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for Journals

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Give students a structure and share an exemplar

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Introduce the different media options available

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Encourage students to try out different media on their page

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Provide a series of prompts for students to choose from

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Give students opportunities to share and ask for feedback

Back-to-School Journals

A great way to start off the school year is with a back-to-school journal! Students can chronicle their first few weeks starting a new school year and share a bit about themselves.

This lets their teacher learn about them at the start of the term, and provides an opportunity for students to share their interests, excitement, or hesitations at the beginning of the school year.

Prompts you might use:

+ What is your favorite thing about school?
+ What topic do you hope to learn about this year?
+ How can I help you be your best?

< Extra Tips

Today is the very first day of school! Super excited to learn how to write my own stories!

Science Experiment Journals

A science experiment has lots of steps and a journal is a great way for students to keep track! Students can use a journal to keep track of the growth of their bean plant, chemical reactions in a petri dish, or any experiment.

This type of journal lets students pause and reflect on experiences. It brings English Language Arts skills into the science classroom. Students can snap pictures, record their voice and give daily updates in their journal.

Prompts you might use:

+ Summarize the steps you took today.
+ Describe a challenge or something unexpected.
+ What extra support do you need to be successful?

< Extra Tips

DAY 4

Science Experiment Updates

Accomplished tasks

Unexpected results

Plans for tomorrow

Community Interview Journals

A great way for students to learn about their community is to conduct interviews! Over the course of the school year or semester, students can interview a different person from their community once a week.

Students can interview a new person each week and reflect on that experience in a journal entry. This series of interviews will leave them with a journal capturing lots of details and fun facts about their community.

Prompts you might use:

+ Who did you interview and what did you learn?
+ After the interview finished, what lingering questions do you still have?
+ What new piece of information did you learn about our community?

< Extra Tips