We offer several Reading Logs for you to choose from. Print these in color (or on colorful paper) for each student to record his/her year's history reading. The students should three-hole-punch these and keep them in their notebooks.
If you are using the recommended reading list as you are teaching history, there are creative ways to encourage your students to read, and read as much as they can! Use the Reading Logs for your students to record their books. Reward every 3 books or so with candy or a small toy from a Prize Box. If the book is long, every 50 pages can count as 1 book.
Have a "Book Share" at the beginning of your classtime. Encourage your students to bring in their book(s) for "Show and Tell". They can show everyone a few pictures and tell why they liked that particular book. For those students who participate, they can earn one reading credit to count towards earning a prize.
Want to offer a little more structure for your students in choosing their outside reading? On the one hand, you can be totally structured--assigning your choice of reading throughout the year for all your students. Another approach is to be partially structured. That is, assign a few of your favorites as required reading, and then allow your students to fill in the rest of their Reading Logs with their personal choices.
Notebooking simply means that your students journal, timeline, and make/label maps and create other simple projects to keep in a notebook. All this becomes something like a mini-scrapbook about the cultures and time periods they have studied during the year. At the end of the year, instead of having a few test grades to show, they have a meaningful keepsake.
One great resource for Notebooking ideas is a series put out by Evan-Moor called History Pockets. The titles range from Ancient Civilizations to Moving West in America, and everything in between. The selections are offered in Grades 1-3 or Grades 4-6. History Pockets offers a wide variety of projects while incorporating a little art in the mix, and all of these can be stored in a Notebook.
Notebooking is best described at Hold That Thought, which offers materials on CD for convenience. Choose and print out from over 350 worksheets in Vol. 1 and over 600 in Vol. 2 to create attractive reports and other creative activities (including maps). Covers both World and American history from a Christian perspective. The Beginner's Set contains 400 sheets with large-ruled lines for the younger student.
See our Maps page for both Map ebooks and free resources for your Notebooking, and scroll below for help with Timeline ideas.
Notebook Covers Print out these fabulous Notebook Covers to decorate the front of your History binder! Then use it to include things like Reading Logs, mapwork, pictures of your student with a completed craft, pictures of field trips, written reports, etc.
Blank Timeline Books are simply empty pages with dates. The teacher gives students an illustration for a person or event in the lesson, and the student glues this illustration in his/her Book on the appropriate page. Illlustrations can come with captions, or the student could be expected to write the date, a title, or possibly other explanatory information on his/her own. Illustrations can be pre-purchased, or teachers could find and print their own pictures from the internet (see the Timeline information on this website!).
Blank timeline books can get expensive—especially if you have to buy them for an entire class. And many times you don't need the entire scope of history--you may only need one section. The good news is that we offer an eBook to help solve these problems!
How to Make Your Own Blank Timeline Book by Carol Henderson. A Book In Time, 2011. Create an impressive Blank Timeline book out of cardstock and labels for much less than the cost of ready-made editions. Make a complete book for each student that covers all eras, or print just enough pages for the era you are currently studying to keep in the back of your History notebook. Includes attractive artwork for the front cover and 4 major time divisions (Ancient World, Middle Ages, Age of Discovery, and Present Era), as well as lists of headings and dates. Print, assemble, and fill with your own Timeline Figures!
Also includes a planning chart and suggestions for Timeline Figures. See the Table of Contents and Sample Pages for more information. Available for immediate download from our Teachers Resource eStore! Get $1 off this eBook by using the Coupon Code Timeline at Check-Out!
Teaching History 
Includes attractive artwork for the front cover and 4 major time divisions (Ancient World, Middle Ages, Age of Discovery, and Present Era), as well as lists of headings and dates. Print, assemble, and fill with your own Timeline Figures! 
