Using Observations in the Writer's Notebook

After this first week of school, I think I can say my students LOVE using Writer's Notebooks. Today, one student didn't want to pay attention because she said she wanted to write about zombies in her notebook. After we finished a quiz today, a boy got out his notebook and continued working on a writing project even though we finished it yesterday. He wanted more. Yesterday, two boys begged to take their notebooks to recess to write some more.

Yesterday we listed our observations or wonders in our notebooks. At the top of the page we wrote "I Wonder..." and then listed all the things in life we wondered about. I shared my list first to get their brains rolling. They LOVE to hear what I write first. I don't know why I never modeled my writing for my students in the past. It really is the best way to teach writing. The only danger is they end up copying your work to some extent. I guess I do the same thing to my mentor authors as well. Maybe that's what we're supposed to do.


At first, some students balked at writing down things they wonder about. Some students claimed they didn't wonder about anything. Others filled up more than one page. Some of the great observations from my students were: "I wonder why God made my face so handsome." How about "Why are bubbles round and not square?" Or "Why does the Easter bunny unnaturally produce eggs?" I really liked this insightful one, "Why would someone invent cuss words?" The classic: "I wonder what my little brother's IQ really is?" A conspiracy theorist: "Why won't the government tell us what is in Area 51?" Or, "Why is Santa Claus fat?"

Of course some of these could be answered. The purpose of this exercise was to first of all, get the students excited about writing. I also wanted them to create a space where they can start gathering ideas for future writing projects. Since we're in the beginning of the year, we need to build up our notebooks so we have something to work with later in the year.

Today we started working on our heart maps. They LOVE this project so far. Even the reluctant students are jumping on board.

On Monday, I plan to teach them how to use their notebooks to record their personal thoughts in what is called the "daily pages." Daily pages are basically the same thing as journaling. We'll see how it goes! I'll keep you posted. As always, if you have suggestions for how to use writer's notebooks in the classroom, please leave a comment!