Interactive Social Studies Notebook Kit
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Printable Title
Social Studies Interactive Notebook Setup
Storyboard
Alphaboxes
Quick Sketch
Reading: Main Ideas
Vocabulary Chart
Design-A-Plate
Concept Web 1
Comic Strip
Memory Clues
Pack Your Bags
Billboard
Job Want Ad
VIPs
Historical Marker
Design a T-Shirt
You’re Invited…
Wanted Poster
Txt Msg Sumre
Dear Journal
Day Planner
Political Cartoon Analysis
Concept Web 2
Page #
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Caricatures
Ahhh Haaa Chart
What’s In My Head?
Concept Wheel
Double Venn Diagram
Triple Venn Diagram
Take 5 Get 5
Two Voices Poem
What’s in Your Wallet?
What’s in Your Purse?
Famousbook
Design A Magazine Cover
Stump Your Classmate
Culture Collage
Country Travel Brochure Brainstorm
Country Travel Brochure
Leader Trading Cards
3-2-1 Pyramid
Give Me 5
#summarizeit
Diamante Poem
Insta-Snaps
Two Viewpoints Glasses
Review Puzzle
Pin-IT
Graffiti Board
Epitaph
Phone-a-Friend
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39-40
41
42
43
44-45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52-53
54-55
56-57
58
59
60
Zooming In
Cookin’ Up a Civilization
Mascots
Bumper Sticker
Fact Finder Tower
Historical Action Figure
Country Birth Announcement
Be the Thing…
Physical Features Quilt Patch
Commemorative Stamp
Historical Snow Globe
Pearls of Wisdom
Google It!
Dumpster Diving
Postcard
Picture Analysis
Design an App
Chief Executive Voicemail
License Plate Cover
Business Card
Get Your Game On
Significant Figure Selfie
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62-63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
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In Social Studies this year, we will be using an Interactive Notebook. The interactive
notebook is more than a notebook in which to take notes. It is a way of collecting and
processing information. You will be responsible for keeping up with your IN for the entire school year.
The Interactive Notebook uses a right side and left side to help you organize your learning. The left
page includes traditional class assignments: notes, worksheets, etc. We will call this side the
“Learning” page. The right side is a place for you to process that information. We will call this side
the “Reflecting” page.
1
Left Side (Learning)
Right Side (Reflecting)
--Information side
--Personal side
--You write or tape in information
from today’s class.
--You interact with the information
in creative ways.
1. LESSON:
2. ACTIVITY:
Purpose: information from today’s
activity (learning)
Purpose: focus on today’s activity
Examples: textbook or lecture notes,
vocabulary, lab procedure & data,
worksheet, concept map
2
Examples: pre-test, quick-write,
demonstration, T-chart, comic strip,
poem, diagram, acrostic, etc.
Implementation
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We will use the notebooks in class every day. It will not be in your best interest to lose it.
Number the pages sequentially. Do not remove any pages. Both right and left pages should
be numbered. It is important that all of us have the same information on the same page.
The first pages are reserved for a table of contents, and instructions.
Use color to help organize your information.
Handouts, foldables and other papers should be glued or taped in place. No staples.
You will need other supplies: markers, glue stick, tape, ruler, pencils, colored pencils
Notebooks will be graded weekly using self, peer and teacher checklists.
Name: __________________
Quick Sketch
Directions: While reading the selection, think about specific words or phrases that help create a picture in
your head of the time period. Write these words and phrases in the box below (the more words you jot down,
the better!). After reading the text, read over your words, and then sketch a quick picture that you were able
to create in your head.
Key Words and Phrases:
Quick Sketch:
Name: _________________
Reading: Main Ideas
Directions: Read the assigned pages. As you read, write down the heading of each section, as well as the
main idea (in complete sentences) for each heading. You may need to add more boxes.
Headings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Main Ideas
Vocabulary Chart
Directions: Write the vocabulary words for this Unit in the squares below. Before we begin this unit, you
need to fill in the squares with what you think each word means. Near the end of the unit, you will go back
and write new information that you have learned about each word. Check whether your own words and the
actual definitions are the same or different.
_________________
_________________
What I think the word means:
What I think the word means:
Definition:
Definition:
Same _____
Different ______
Same _____
_________________
Different ______
_________________
What I think the word means:
What I think the word means:
Definition:
Definition:
Same _____
Different ______
Same _____
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Different ______
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What I think the word means:
What I think the word means:
Definition:
Definition:
Same _____
Different ______
Same _____
Different ______
Design-A-Plate
There is a new restaurant in our town! Even though the owner has an awesome menu lined up, he
has one small problem…He doesn’t have any plates to serve the food on! The owner needs your help
in designing plates that could be used in his restaurant. He wants you to create a plate that includes
the important features and symbols of the Unit that we’re studying. Feel free to add any additional
illustrations to your plate design—the more, the better! The plate should be colorful, informative, and
creative. 
Plate Design:
Comic Strip
Directions: Create a sequence of events for the comic strip in the Rough Draft section below.
Organize ideas on how to combine pictures, captions, and dialogue to tell about a specific event or
express a message. Fold a piece of copy paper into 8 different sections. Develop 8 frames to depict
your comic strip. Decide how you can convey the message of your story in a limited space. (Due to
limited space, comic strips focus on the main idea and the most important elements of the topic,
event, or message to be communicated.) Make sure to color your comic strip and use correct spelling
and grammar.
Title Frame
Memory Clues
Directions: Create a memory clue that represents each vocabulary word that we have studied in
this unit.
Vocabulary
Term
Memory Clue (Symbol)
Explanation
Pack Your Bags!
Directions: Inside of the suitcase, draw FIVE things that you are going to take with you on our class
trip to ________. (Think about the location, climate, physical features, and natural resources of the
country.) Next, include a brief description of why you chose to bring that particular item. Color your
suitcase—be creative! 
Billboard
Directions: Create a billboard that includes images & words that help raise
awareness for an issue that we’re studying. Include words and images.
*DESIGN TIPS: A billboard should be so simple that people can get the
message as they drive by at high speeds. Get your ideas across quickly
using large images and as few words as possible.
Job Want Ad
Directions: After learning about this area’s geography, choose one of the features mentioned. Create a Want
Ad for a job that could be found in/near this feature. Be sure to include a brief description of the job, as well
as an illustration. Do not write where the job is located, because your group members are going to guess the
mystery region based on the description of the job!
1. What is the job?
2. Who is eligible to apply for this job?
3. Describe the job.
4. Draw an illustration of someone doing the job.
Group members: Can you guess the mystery region where this type of job could be found?
VIPs
Directions: After the lesson, fill in the graphic organizer below with information about the Very Important People
mentioned.
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
Picture
Historical Marker
Directions: Review your notes from this Unit. Which event do you think is the most important event in that
we’ve studied? You are going to be creating a marker that will tell tourists about the significance of that event.
1. Choose your event and write what it in the CIRCLE on the top of the historical marker.
2. Next, write a short description of the event.
3. Then, write a brief opinion statement on why you think that this event is important.
4. At the bottom, write the place where your marker will be located.
5. Draw an illustration that symbolizes your event.
6. Color your historical marker. Please do not leave any white space.
7. Cut your marker out and turn it in.
Design a Shirt
Design a t-shirt that explains something from the unit that we are studying.
1. Create a slogan for the shirt.
2. Draw a symbol for the shirt.
3. Make it colorful! Be creative!
You’re Invited…
Directions: Imagine that a significant person that we are studying is hosting a very special event. He has
asked you to help with the “party planning”. First, you should choose a historical event that is related to the
person and time period. Next, you will need to create an invitation to this event. Make sure that you follow
the steps below so that your invitation is spectacular!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Who – Who’s hosting the event?
What -- What is the event?
Where -- Where is the event located?
When – When will the event take place (time & date)?
Why – Why should people come to this event?
What to bring? – What should a person bring to this event?
R.S.V.P. – Who should people contact to say that they are attending?
Include an illustration.
Wanted Poster
Directions: Create a Wanted/Hero poster for a person that we are studying. If
you consider the person to be a villain you will create a Wanted poster. If you
think the person was good you will create a Hero poster.
Your poster must include:
1. A sketch of what the person probably looks like.
2. A reward amount listing the specific crime or heroic action the person did.
3. A made-up quote from a person living at the time showing what people might
have said about this person.
4. The approximate date this poster would have been found.
5. A written description of what the person has done in their life.
TXT MSG SUMRE
Directions: Imagine you’re sending a summary of a historical event to a friend via text message. Write up the
summary in text messaging language including all appropriate abbreviations and emoticons. Pretend you are
directly involved in the event.
Ur sumre must:
-include abbreviated words where appropriate.
-include all key points of the event.
-be short and to the point but at least one paragraph.
-include the regular, non-text message version. On the back of this sheet.
“You Are There” Diary
Directions: Write a series of diary entries as if you were living through a historical event. (You may write on
the back as well.) Keep in mind this is not a report on the event but the thoughts and feelings of someone
living through it. Your diary should include any key terms or people involved with the event in some way.
Dear Journal:
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Day Planner
Directions: Imagine you were a regular person living in a civilization that we are studying. Create a
day planner that details what you will be doing each hour of the day.
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Start with the hour of the day you would probably wake up and end with the hour you would
probably go to sleep.
Include an entry for every hour between those two events.
Each entry needs to be a complete sentence and must provide detail.
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Political Cartoon Analysis
Visuals
1. List the objects or people you
see in the cartoon.
Words
1. Identify the cartoon caption or title:
2. Record any important words or dates
that appear in the cartoon.
2. Which of the objects in your list
(above) are symbols?
3. Which words in the cartoon appear to
be the most significant? Why do you think
this is so?
3. What do you think each symbol
means?
4. List some adjectives that describe the
emotions portrayed in the cartoon.
Questions to Consider:
A. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon:
B. Explain the message of the cartoon:
C. What group would agree with the cartoon’s message? Why?
D. What group would disagree with the cartoon’s message? Why?
Caricatures
Directions: Create caricatures of the key figures in this Unit.
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Give each person clothing and/or belongings/items to represent their personality, policies,
beliefs, & nation.
Label each item explaining the significance
All items must represent different ideas
Write a thought (in the bubble) that would best capture each person’s perspective and/or
impact on their country.
Color your illustrations!
What’s in Your Wallet?
Directions: Uh oh! One of the historical figures that we are currently
studying has lost his wallet! Help him find it by creating a “Lost Wallet”
poster that includes 3 to 5 pictures of the items in the wallet and why/how
each are significant to his life.
What’s in Your Purse?
Directions: Uh oh! One of the historical figures that we are
currently studying has lost her purse! Help her find it by creating a
“Lost Purse” poster that includes pictures of the items inside of it
and why they are significant to her life.
Famousbook
Name:
Location:
Occupation:
Education:
Profile Picture
Activities:
Interests:
Accomplishments:
Volume 35, No. 4
______________
National
Geographic
Features:
Design a Magazine Cover
Directions: You are going to design a magazine cover that
could have been seen during the time period that we are
studying. You will need to include the following things in
your design:
1. Choose to base your cover on an event from the time
period.
2. Write a catchy title that goes along with the topic.
3. Draw a graphic that explains your title.
4. In the “Features” section, write 4 different titles of
articles that could be featured in the magazine. Also
write down the page number that you want them to be
on.
5. Color the magazine cover. *The border should be
yellow, but you can color the rest any way that you
prefer.
Stump Your Classmates!
Directions: Think about the unit that we are currently learning about. In the spaces below, write down two
true statements/facts and one false statement/fact about the unit. Don’t label them! We are going to move
around the classroom challenge each other. Let’s see if you can STUMP YOUR CLASSMATES!
Cultural Collage
You are going to create a collage of cultural information regarding the area that we are studying. We are
going to display the collages around the classroom in a museum-type setting. We will then be able to walk
around the room and observe the cultural artwork.
You may include words on your collage, but the majority of space on your poster must be filled with
interesting and vivid pictures. The pictures can be hand-drawn, cut from magazines, or printed off of the
internet. It is important that all aspects of culture are represented in your collage, so you must include at least
one picture for each of the following examples of culture:
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art
music/dance
food
language
religion
You can use your class notes, as well as the textbook, to find information for your collage.
Culture Collage Brainstorm
*Your final draft will be on big construction paper or butcher paper, so make sure that you have plenty of
ideas!
Travel Brochure Brainstorm
Directions: Fill in the boxes below with information from your textbook reading, library
books, and internet research.
Natural Resources
Climate
Economy
Government
Neat Places to Visit
Physical Features
Environmental
Concerns
Flag of Country
(rough sketch)
Map of Country
(rough sketch)
3-2-1 Pyramid
Directions: On the pyramid below, write down 3 interesting facts, 2 “because statements”, and 1 question
you still have about this unit.
Give Me FIVE!
Directions: Write down the five most important things that you learned during today’s lesson on the fingers
below. In the center of the palm, write a one sentence summary of what you learned.
#Summarizeit
Directions: First, define the word. Next, summarize what it means with a hashtag
summary. You can have more than one. Be creative!
Diamante Poem
Directions: Compose a diamante poem about the topic that we are studying. Diamante poems are
written in the shape of a diamond. Follow the format below for your rough draft. Please write you
final draft on a separate sheet of paper. Illustrate your poem!
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Line
Line
Line
Line
Line
Line
Line
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
Subject (one word)
Two Adjectives that describe Line 1
Three –ing words that describe Line 1
Four nouns that are connected with Lines 1 & 7
Three –ing words that describe Line 7
Two adjectives that describe Line 7
Synonym for Line 1 (one word)
Two Viewpoints
“A View from Both Sides “
Directions:
1. On the left lens of the glasses, write reasons to
support the first viewpoint. Include an illustration
that represents this viewpoint.
2.
On the right lens of the glasses, write two
reasons support the second viewpoint. Include an
illustration that represents this viewpoint.
3.Color your glasses. Please do not leave any white
space on your paper!
4.
Cut out your glasses and turn them in. 
Review Puzzle -- Teacher Directions
Turn any study guide into a puzzle, and the students will LOVE to it because
it’s FUN! Sneaky, sneaky…
Ideas:
1. Write questions and answers on touching sides of the puzzles pieces (so
that they match up when you cut them out). Copy the puzzle for each
student, cut out, put into bags or envelopes. (I use envelopes so that the
students can glue them into their Interactive Notebooks and they will
stay closed.) Let the students spend a few minutes every day putting
their puzzles together. The more they see the information, the more it
will sink in!
2. Have students write their own questions and answers from the unit on
the puzzle pieces. All of the class puzzles will be different, so they can
switch puzzles with classmates to review.
3. Instead of writing questions & answers—try writing vocabulary words
and definitions, and then having students illustrate the puzzle.
Pin-It! -- Teacher Directions
Have students write a title for the board, draw pictures in the boxes, and
write a description that summarizes the box.
Ideas:
1. Students create a Pin-It board for a historical figure, “pinning” things
that are important/symbolic to the person.
2. Have students plan a trip to an area that you’re studying. The students
will draw pictures of the different places & feature that they want to
visit. They should also write a description of the place.
Your Task: Write a “recipe” for a civilization that we have studied. Include several ingredients that were used to form the
civilization. Also, write out the special cooking instructions for bringing the civilization together.
Ingredients:
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Instructions:
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Country
Mascots
Directions: Your group has been chosen by the United Nations to come up with a mascot to represent some
of the countries that we are studying. Think about all of the information that you have learned about these
countries. Your group will need to create an illustration of each mascot. Your group will also need to write an
explanation as to why the mascots were chosen to represent each country. Please use the chart below to
brainstorm your ideas. You will need to draw your final illustrations and write your explanations on separate
sheets of copy paper.
1st Mascot’s Name:
Explanation:
Mascot Illustration:
2nd Mascot’s Name:
Explanation:
Mascot Illustration:
Fact Finder Tower
Directions: Fill in the two top levels of the tower with facts that you already know about today’s
topic. Fill in the two middle levels of the tower with questions that you have about today’s topic. After
today’s lesson, you will be able to go back and write down two additional facts that you learned
about today’s topic on the two bottom levels of the tower.
Fact I Know…
Fact I Know…
Fact I Want to Know…
Fact I Want to Know…
Fact I Learned…
Fact I Learned…
Historical Action Figure
Your Task: Congratulations! You have just been hired by a major toy company. Your first project is to design
an action figure from the unit we’re currently studying. Be sure to dress your action figure in ways that
represent the historical leader. Choose at least three special features that your action figure will have. These
features should relate to the historical leader’s life. Also include at least three accessories that come with your
figure that are appropriate for the historical leader. Does your action figure have a catch phrase or motto?
What about an arch nemesis (enemy)? Logo? Include those things in your figure’s box!
It’s A …!
A Birth Announcement for the New Nation
Your Task: Create a card to announce the birth of the country that we are currently studying.
Think about how it was formed, who is responsible for creating it, and why it was formed.
Please Include:
 Title
 Date of “birth”
 Creators
 Brief summary of how the nation was formed.
 Brief summary of why the nation was formed.
 Description of how the people within the country feel about its formation. (There could be
more than one viewpoint.)
 A colorful illustration that relates to the event.
Be the Thing…
Your Task: Choose one of the physical features that we are studying. Imagine that
you are this physical feature. Using descriptive details, include at least 5 to 8
interesting facts about “yourself”. Also include a colorful illustration of the feature.
Commemorative Stamp
Directions: On the postage stamp pattern below, design a stamp that features something that we have
studied in this unit. It could be a location, event, person, etc., as long as it’s significant to what we are
studying. Don’t forget to add the postage rate and to color your stamp! On the back, write a persuasive
paragraph that explains why you chose this particular event/person for your stamp.
Historical Snow Globe
Directions: Capture a significant event from our current unit by drawing a scene in the snow globe
below. On the back of this paper, describe the scene and its significance to history.
Dumpster Diving
Choose one of the significant people that we have studied in
this unit. Imagine that you discover the person’s trash can
sitting on the curb. You are very nosy and cannot help but
take a little peek inside. What kinds of things do you find
in his/her trash? Also, explain the significance of the
items. How do they connect to the person and this
particular period in history?
Trash Item Found
Explanation
Postcard
Picture Analysis
Your task: Spend some time analyzing your group’s picture, then answer the questions below.
Describe what you see in the
photograph.
What do you think the people are
doing?
Imagine that you are in the picture. What do you hear? What do you
smell?
Prediction: What happened right
before this picture was taken?
Prediction: What happened right
after this image was taken?
Chief Executive Voicemail
Directions: If you called the leaders of the countries that we are studying, what would their
voicemail messages say? Choose one of the leaders and create an accurate voicemail message for
what the leader could be doing instead of answering your call. Use information from your notes to
help you come up with ideas.
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Teachers
Thank you so much for downloading this file. Because there are so many
printables in this file, I have found it helpful to print out the entire file, hole
punch the pages, and keep them in a binder. It is much easier to find what
you’re looking for this way—plus, you can just grab the binder and head to the
copy machine! I sincerely hope that you find this product useful and that your
students enjoy the activities! Have fun! 
• Interested in more Social Studies products? Please click the logo to
below to visit my store:
Thanks again,
Brain Wrinkles
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