Creating Flaps for Interactive Journals

Hey, everyone!  I’m guest blogging today over at Learning 4 Keeps while Leah is on vacation.  Hop on over to see some of the ways I use flap templates in my interactive journals and student created books.  I’ve included a freebie template that will help you get started if you’re new to the wonderful world of foldables.  Happy blog hopping!

1 comment foldables, freebies, Guest Post, journaling, notebooks, notetaking

Envelope Books

I love creating interactive notes with my kids!  I’m not sure why, but folding, cutting, and gluing can make any topic more interesting.

My kids created these envelope books last week to keep their notes from our map unit in. In addition to learning map skills, our map unit included a lesson on an explorer and his impact on the present. Many of the pages we added to our books are from our mandated curriculum but I tried to spruce things up where I could.

This is a timeline that we accordion folded into our books.

This is the foldable I had planned to add to our books. I forgot to make copies so I had to improvise – oops!

The left side shows the notes we took instead of using the foldable. The right side shows a pocket we created using a map. The map shows the route Juan de Onate took. The folded paper inside the pocket is information about Juan de Onate and his journey.

The left side shows notes that we took on the outside of the folded pocket we made. We stored the maps we created inside this pocket.
These books are so easy a caveman 3rd grader can do it.  Here are the instructions if you would like to give it a try.

Start with a manila envelope of any size. I used 9 x 12 envelopes to make the map books.

Shave off the edges so that the envelope will open up.

Open up the envelope and turn it sideways. This is the inside of the envelope. The clasp should be on the left.

Fold the left side over until it meets the center crease. You will now be able to see the metal clasp.

Lift up the edge you just folded over and place glue at the top and bottom edges.

Fold the flap back down and hold in place until the glue dries. You now have a pocket.

At this point, you can see the 3 panels on the inside of the book for you to fill up with notes and foldables.

To close up the book, fold the pocket over.

Fold over the left side again.

Fold the flap over. I use this as the front of the book. That’s it – you’re done!You can add velcro dots to the flap if you want your book to stay closed. 
I love making these books. They are so simple to make and there is so much you can do with them. My 3rd graders made their own books with me modeling the process. I heard several kids comment that the books were really cool and they couldn’t wait to take them home.
If you’ve made similar books before, I’d love to know what topic you created them for.

4 comments foldables, map skills, notetaking, social studies

Paper Bag Books, part 2

I’m back with some directions for making paper bag books.  If you missed my first post about bag books, you can read it here.  For this project any type of paper sack will do.  I’ve made small ones with lunch sacks like in the pictures below and I’ve made larger ones from regular grocery sacks.  My principal bought a ton of grocery sacks from Sam’s Club and I love them because there are no logos on the bags.  Grocery stores will often donate bags to teachers but then you have to work around their logo. 

You will need a rubber band and 2 sacks to create each book.

Take two sacks and lay them so that the bottom of the sack is facing up.  You will want the bottom of one bag to be on the right and the bottom of the other bag on the left.

The bottom part of the bag is used to create a flap. 

Once you have folded the bottoms over to create your flaps, place one bag on top of the other. 

Take both bags and fold them in half. 

Place a rubber band over the two bags and slide it so that it is in the middle of the bag.  I have seen people who have sewn the bags together for craft projects but the rubber band works nicely for class projects.

Ta-da!  Your book is ready for your project!  These books are so simple to put together.  If you decide to make a paper bag book, I would love to see it!

Happy folding!

Leave a Comment foldables, notetaking

Paper Bag Books

I absolutely love creating foldables to organize notes.  One of my favorite projects is creating paper bag books.  The possibilities of what you can do with them are limitless.  Today’s post is about how I’ve been using the paper bag book during our study of matter.

This is the book I made as a model for the class.  The kids put more effort into decorating their covers than I did mine.

This is the inside flap (created from the bottom of the bag) with some basic notes.  I created templates for them to use for their notes to help keep their books organized.

I gave my class notes about solids, liquids, and gases.  They had to create a picture of the atoms in each type of matter and then write about it.  I also had them cut out pictures of solids, liquids, and gases and glue them in the empty spaces on the appropriate page.

This pocket held an AIMS book that we read in class.


This is what the foldable on page 4 looked like after it was opened up.  I got this Properties of Matter page from Teachers Clubhouse.

We explored the physical properties of a Tootsie Roll and put our findings on the right side of this section. Each of the 5 senses are on flaps that lift up and our notes are underneath. The kids all agreed that discovering the properties of taste was the best part!

On the left side we took notes on the physical changes of matter.  The right side has 2 examples of mixtures.  The top one is a mixture of sand and pebbles that we found on our playground.  The bottom example was a mixture of salt and pepper. 

The back pocket held notes on different experiments we conducted throughout the unit. 
It took us a long time to put these books together but it was a beneficial learning experience.  Plus, everything was all in one place so that kids were less likely to lose anything. 
Paper bag books look complicated to make but they are quite simple.  My 3rd graders were able to make their own with me modeling the process.  For those of you who are interested, I will post some directions soon (hopefully tomorrow).  For those of you who have done this before, what kind of projects did you use these books for?

6 comments foldables, notetaking, Science

It's Freebie Friday!

Today is Freebie Friday at Teaching Blog Addict.  What a great way to finish off the week!  Free is always good in my book.  I'm joining the party with two fraction sorts you can add to your math notebooks next year.  If your students don't keep math notebooks, you can always have them glue the sort onto construction paper for a quick assessment. 



   

Each fraction is represented as a set, part of a whole, and on a number line.  I hope you can find a use for these in your classroom. Click on any of the pictures above to get your copy.  Don't forget to drop by Teaching Blog Addict to find more great FREE resources! 

Happy blog hopping!

I would like to thank Amy from Adventures in Teaching for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award.  Amy is a new blogger with lots of teaching experience.  Drop by and check out her blog sometime.  I'm still on the lookout for more blogs to nominate.  You can check my list of deserving blogs here.

1 comment fractions, freebies, journaling, math, notebooks, notetaking

Foldables!

 The last 3 years I've been going crazy for foldables! Dinah Zike is the queen of foldables. If you have not been to Dinah Zike's website, you definitely need to check it out.  She has lots of ideas and wonderful instructions on how to get started.

Notebook Foldables (above) was the first of Dinah's books that I purchased and I've gotten a lot of great ideas from it.  Now I have almost the whole collection and I still can't get enough!  Dinah has written books for every subject.  If you're into math then you need this one:

I LOVE this one for anything related to Language Arts:

There are so many ideas in Dinah's books that my head spins!

Leave a Comment favorites, foldables, journaling, notebooks, notetaking

Math Journals

I have used math journals in my classroom for 3 years now and I ab-so-lute-ly love them!  I started off slow and I've gradually added a journal for virtually every subject I teach.  Since I teach in a self-contained class, that's a bunch of journals!

I've been going through my old journals this summer and looking for ways to improve them.   I always make one with the kids each year.  This is a sample of what I did with money in my journal. 

The kids quickly learn the folds and cuts but I like to start off with premade flaps in the beginning.  I recently updated my flaps.

The flaps definitely look better in color.

I even created a flap book to use as an assessment of what the kids have learned. 

It's a FREEBIE! If you would like to give journals a try, you can get these flaps at my Teacher's Pay Teachers store.

3 comments foldables, freebies, journaling, math, notebooks, notetaking