For the Love of Bookmaking

November . . .  the time of year when students are starting to get antsy for Winter Break, yet it's still not close enough. Teachers are tired, parent conference time and report cards are here, the time change has made it darker earlier. . . Bookmaking is the perfect solution for reinvigorating your students' writing in any content area! For some reason, when students know they are making a book, the quality of their writing improves and they are excited and motivated to do their best work.

Former students (and parents!) often return to reminisce about all the books they wrote in fourth grade. While random papers and notebooks often are thrown in the trash after school is out, I've been told that the student-made books are saved in their "school boxes." Here are eight types of books to reenergize your teaching and student writing!

A Poof Book requires only one sheet of paper. For some reason, kids LOVE mini books. Once you have taught them how to make this book, you'll have parents start to comment that their kids are using all their printer paper to make books at home! Read more about how to use poof books HERE.

This "slit book" is one of my favorite books to make with students! It takes 3 sheets of paper (or more, if you want more pages). It is a book made without using staples or tape! After learning how to fold this book, many of my parents begin to send me messages, "I don't know what you're doing in class, but my child is using up all the paper in our house to make books and write!" To get your kids excited to make this book, click HERE.

What's the best way to teach notetaking or paragraph writing? There are so many methods, but one of my favorite is a step book! Learn more HERE.

For this book, all you need is a hole punch, a stick (craft stick or real stick/twig) and a rubberband. Because of the simple binding, it is easy to add in additional pages if necessary. Click HERE to read more.

Here's an oldie but a goodie: the pop-up book. Kids (and adults) never get tired of making these because there are so many options for creativity. Click HERE to read more about using pop-up books with your students.

There are no other words to describe this book, but MAGIC. Your students will gasp in delight when they first peel open the magic or hidden section. Click HERE to learn more ways to use magic books!

I love bringing in my electric drill and watching my students' eyes light up! LOL. Don't let the drill scare you; it's actually easy to use (and I'm not all that handy) and makes for stunning books!  Click HERE to read more about hand-sewing books.

Bringing a sewing machine into the classroom is amazing to kids: it's a machine!! Plus having a hardback book with pages that are sewn makes it valid as a "real book", just like the hardback books in our class library! Read more about sewing books HERE.

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