Math Menu - Math Journals

Happy Hump Day! Thank you SOOOO much for helping me choose my binder name! I decided on S.A.F.A.R.I. I am in the process of designing the cover and will share it with you soon! I have been working in my room this week and it is starting to shape up! Isn't walking in on the first day the SCARIEST thing ever??? My hubs was SO sweet and helped me out big time last week! Now I am doing all the little stuff! I will post pics soon! :)

Next up in the Math Menu ~ the Daily Five equivalent of Work on Writing ~ math journals! My kiddos write in their math journals 4 times a week (once during Morning Work, and three times during math menu!) There are a BAJILLION different ways to do math journals!

MATERIALS ~

I use the Blank Writing Journals from Starfall! LOVE! It has 4 ruled writing lines and a blank space for a picture above the lines. My firsties glue the prompt at the bottom of the blank space and write their response on the lines. At $0.69 each, they are a great buy! I usually use 3 per student for the school year. You, of course, could use WHATEVER you have...composition notebooks, folders, or paper stapled together!

STORAGE ~

I store my journals in the Journal Storage Center from Lakeshore. I have tables in my room, so the journals are stored on a counter. This great storage center box prevents the kiddos from sorting (FOREVA) through a giant stack on journals to find theirs. They look for their color divider (4 colors) and quickly grab their journal!

JOURNAL PROMPTS ~

Our journal prompts change to reflect each unit. As the year progresses, there is more of an emphasis on problem solving. I love to use names of our kiddos in the class...they get a KICK out of seeing their name in a journal prompt! I also love to add in seasonal details...pumpkins, reindeer, eggs, etc. to keep it fresh!

PROMPT DISTRIBUTION ~

I type up all of the prompts for a unit on one page. I then use a black metal clip (I just saw some in zebra and I am SO getting those!) to clip that page to the inside cover of the journal. That way, the kiddo just grabs their journal and heads to a table. They choose which prompt they

want to complete, cut it out, and glue it onto their next blank page! No more Mrs. B cutting strips of journal prompts...I DESPISED doing this for some reason!!??!! No more random baskets of prompts! They will never re-do a prompt because they have their very own page!

Thanks for sticking around for this looong post! Love to answer any questions or comments! :)

Up next...where to find and how to store math games!