The entries in an aquarium notebook can often occupy a single line and here are some suggestions:
1) date
2) Day # (of fishless or fish-in cycling, counting from beginning)
3) temperature
4) pH reading
5) ammonia reading
6) nitrite(NO2) reading (if performed)
7) nitrate(NO3) reading (if performed)
8) % water change (if performed)
9) notation of water clarity observation
10) any actions taken on tank (*)
* its important not to forget obvious ones like things added or removed from the tank. These things seem trivial at the time but the buildup of them in the notebook becomes more and more valuable to you over time.
11) notes on any fertilizers and/or carbon fed to plants, periodic notation of light hours received by plants
You can use the notebook both for these stats and as a place where the kids can intersperse their own pictures and notes or they can participate in the recording of the stats as long as you verify you'll be able to read things later. My son found a spiral notebook with 3D pictures of fish on the front!
Ammonia: Consider adding your location (in the world!) to your profile so the members can further help you with locating the right type of ammonia. Its "household" ammonia usually found in various mop and broom store sections. In the USA its sometimes in grocery stores, Ace hardware, Walmart or other bigbox stores. Its supposed to be clear, with no dyes, no fragrances added and no surfactants or soaps. When you shake it you should see bubbles for 2 or 3 seconds kind of like water but not foam that lasts. If a store person tells you they don't have it you should still look carefully in the likely places of that store. Its kind of an adventure finding it and members always like to hear where you finally found some!
Hopefully you've been doing your homework reading the articles on the Nitrogen Cycle, tank startup and the types of "cycles" in the Beginners Resource Center, right? The working article on Fishless Cycling is by rdd1952 and you'll want to follow the Add & Wait method. You'll want to establish two times of day 12 hours apart, one in the morning and one in the evening. One of these will become your "add mark", the time of day when you'll always add ammonia (but only if it reached zero ppm sometime in the previous 24 hours) (you don't add right when it becomes zero) The two times of day should be chosen because you'll usually be able to be home when they occur, this is one of the challenges.
Sounds like you're on the right path about filter media. We want there to be mechanical and biological media in there but not chemical media. Those are the three functions of a filter and the chemical one is optional and only used when there is a specific need. Carbon and Zeolite are examples of chemical media and we'll not want either in there to start. Your plants will need to be fed or they will quickly die and add to the ammonia load in an unpredictable way.
~~waterdrop~~
U're in very safe hands with these two. 
