FIRST HAND LEARNING E-NEWSLETTER
Vol. 6, No. 4

FOCUS ON JOURNALS
(Part 2) Read More: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

More Ideas for Using Journals Effectively
Summer is a great time to review your practice and plan new strategies for the coming school year. FHL wants to encourage you to incorporate learning from direct experience into your teaching, providing opportunities for your students to engage with real phenomenon through inquiry.

Journals or notebooks offer students a dedicated space to record observations, questions, and ideas. A recent newsletter highlighted some tips for getting the most out of keeping science notebooks and field journals in the classroom. Here are a few more

• Build your students’ capacity for science inquiry carefully, beginning with engaging, focused activities that help them practice certain skills and gain confidence.
• Hone students’ ability to make close observations, to take measurements, to make predictions, to ask questions, to compare and contrast, to experiment. Make this practice meaningful and cumulative, so students see recording in their journals as a central component of their science work.
• Incorporate opportunities during the investigative process for students to return to prior entries in order to retrieve key information as well as to reflect on what they have done and learned.

How are you planning on using notebooks or journals in your classroom? Share your ideas or tips with FHL’s community of learners. Email us at inquiries@firsthandlearning.org. If we publish your submission in an upcoming enewsletter or online at the FHL website, we will send you a free class set of field journals!

What’s Next for Journals?
Here at First Hand Learning, we are considering expanding our journal and notebook offerings to include targeted subject journals.
Would you be interested in specific content journals, such as ones to use at the zoo or on a trip, or ones to help children write about themselves, their families, or technology? If so, click here to easily register your interest.

What new journals would you like to see? Please email us with your ideas and questions at inquiries@firsthandlearning.org.
Thanks for the feedback!
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The First Hand Learning Catalog offers nature journals, hands-on science kits, posters, and more. Go to http://www.firsthandlearning.org/catalog/catalog_frameset.html

We hope you found this edition of the FIRST HAND LEARNING E-NEWSLETTER informative. Please contact us with any comments, suggestions, or questions you may have by emailing us at: inquiries@firsthandlearning.org.

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