The following are general guidelines for your Notebook -
The History Notebook should be a 3-ring ‘view’ binder, 1˝” thick. The purpose of the Notebook is to help organize the information you will learn in History this year, and to show you how you should organize class information when you get to High School. You must have your
notebook in class every day.
The Notebook cover will be decorated in a US History or patriotic theme, and be labeled with
your name, my name, ‘US History’ and your period. This instruction page will be the first page in
your notebook.
The Notebook will have 6 sections, separated by labeled dividers. Your name should be on every page. In each section, pages will be kept in ‘reverse’ order, with the most recent assignment
or lecture on top of the previous assignment or lecture.
Section 1 is the Openers section. It will contain all the Openers, Journal entries, Unit Questions, and responses to Chapter readings. All entries will be dated, so pages need not be
numbered. You may put more than one item on each page if there is room.
Section 2 is the Notes section. It will contain all notes for this quarter. The Notes Section will be organized very precisely. Each page will be numbered in the top right hand corner, so every student’s Notes section should have the same number of pages. Check the class website (www.oocities.org/hazelgp) to ensure your pages are correctly numbered. If your notes for a lesson extend beyond one page, you may either write on the back of the page or continue onto a second page. If you go to a second page, that page will have the same page number with an ‘a’
suffix added, e.g. page 24a.
Note pages should be complete, neat and readable. The lesson title should be on the first line and underlined or highlighted. There are four ways to highlight facts in the Key Item Chronology (KIC) in your notes – highlight the KIC, underline the KIC, indent the KIC explanation, or space
between KICs. You must use two of these four methods.
Section 3 is the Reference section. It will contain materials that we will use throughout the year. The US map will be the first page. The State Chart is the 2nd page. Your Timelines for each quarter will be the next 4 pages (with the current quarter on top). Exams and Exam Notes will be
last.
Section 4 is the Skills section. It will contain all Skills and related activities.
Section 5 is the Grades section. It will contain all graded tasks for this quarter, followed by all
special projects for the year.
Section 6 is the Historical section. It will contain the Notes from previous quarters. In other words, when we begin the 2nd Quarter, the papers in the Notes section from the 1st Quarter will be
put in the Historical Section. Only notes from the current quarter will be in the Notes section.
Your Notebook will count 20-25% of your grade each quarter. Notebooks will usually be graded once each quarter, probably during the seventh week. The Notebook grade will usually be based on -
- Cover 10%
- Notes section 40%
- Reference section 20%
- Openers section 10%
- Grades section 10%
- Well-organized 10%
Bonus Points will be allocated based on neatness.