My students write each day in their Writer's Notebook during Writing Workshop. They are given a blank composition book at the beginning of the year and I ask them, in class and with a letter to their parents, to bring things from home (photos, sticks, postcards, souvenirs, etc.) to decorate both the front and back of the notebook.

While this may just seem like a fun art project, it is so much more than that! Allowing students to personalize their notebooks helps them truly take ownership of the writing that will soon cover the pages of their book. The photos and other things they choose to put on their notebooks often give them ideas for new notebook entries as well.

I have parent volunteers cover the notebooks with clear contact paper when they are done decorating them.