Organizing your classroom can actually be.....wait for it....FUN!
I know how that sounds, stay with me on this one. One of the things that no one tells you when you go through the credential program and get your first classroom is that teaching is MESSY! I'm not talking about the mess that the students make everyday (And, boy, do they make a mess! I once found a moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwich shoved in the back of a student's desk...yuck!)
I'm talking about the mass quantities of teacher's manuals, manipulatives, supplies, masters, copies, files, portfolios, textbooks, reading books, student consumables, notebooks, etc.
It is enough to make you feel like a teacher store exploded in the middle of your classroom!
ENTER MY NEW BOOK BINDING MACHINE...
Since I teach students from kindergarten to high school in my one-room schoolhouse, organization is the key to not drowning under all of the materials I need at my finger tips.
Planning and organizing lessons for my students requires a deep dive into the materials that teachers are allowed to share with me. Since I don't often see a Teacher's Guide, I need to use the student consumable materials to anticipate what lessons my students need and to prepare my students for success when they are in their classrooms, so being able to easily flip through student workbooks makes my life easier.
No more bulky 3-ring binders or loosing pages again!
This little baby also comes in handy when I am making student portfolios, creating student success planners, designing lesson planners for me, and binding books together.
Here's how I did it...
STEP 1 - Tear the workbooks apart
(Admittedly this was the scariest part. If you are like me and you keep your things looking as good on day 1, 320 as they did on day 1, ripping the books apart was more than a little nerve-racking.)
STEP 2 - Cut off the tattered edges using a paper cutter
STEP 3 - Reassemble the workbook
STEP 4 - Start punching the holes
STEP 5 - Twist the binding coil through the holes in the pages
STEP 6- Cut the excess coil with wire cutters and bend the edge so the cold stays in place
And, voila! Now I can flip, turn, and copy pages until my heart's content, and the everything fits on my shelves.
If you want to check out the Book Binding Machine on Amazon, click here.
Until next time, friends!
Comments