Teaching Writing: Children II

Lesson 3: Making Books and Publishing Student Work

Specialty books and other ways to publish

Of course, there are many other creative ways to publish student work. Here is a brief overview of some of them.

Folded Books

Paul Johnson is a master of the folded book. In Literacy and the Book Arts he gives detailed instructions on many ways to create beautiful folded books, including books that have cutouts, pop-ups and intricate folded designs. If your class is "into" bookmaking, it is well worth the time to look into some of these beautiful book formats. The illustrations are clear and the directions for making the different types of books are very well written. This book is a definite plus for any classroom that is serious about making books.

Flip Books

The flip book is just that - a book that can be flipped open. I have made them several ways. The basic flip book is made by folding a piece of paper lengthwise - I used legal sized paper for this. Once the paper is folded, cut the top half from the long bottom edge up to meet the fold to make four or five "pages". Leave the bottom half whole.

These books can be used in many ways. The top "flip" parts can be used to set out the elements of the story, and the underneath part can give more details about each. Or, a story can be written with parts alternating between the top and bottom parts of the flip. They can also be used in subject areas to organize factual information.

Another way to make a flip book is to use two or four sheets of paper and fold them so that each part "stairsteps" the other, going from a very small page through sequentially larger pages to the last page that is as large as you want to make the book. Sounds confusing, right? Invitations page 92 has a great explanation.

Not to be confused with the animation type of flip book, these books provide several pages on which students can present a story or other subject area material.

Pop-Up Books

Paul Johnson does a great job showing many types of pop-up books. In addition, Joan Irvine: http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/... shows how to make these books at her site.

Group Books

You might also want to have your class prepare a group book. The possibilities for this are really endless. Over the years, I had students create many whole class books that were read and enjoyed by all. Some were "fictional" and some were tied to subject areas. You can choose to bind your class books in many of the ways already described, or you may want to have your school invest in a plastic binding machine like this Plastic Comb and Spiral-O Binding Machine: http://www.factory-express.com/Binding_M... . This is an investment, but if your school is willing, it is a great tool to have.

To give you an example, one of the class books we made was in connection with a space unit we were studying. The students had to write three different pieces for this book. They wrote short, factual one-page reports about the planets. They wrote letters to me describing their trip to that particular planet, and they wrote fantasies about an imaginary planet they created. Those were all bound into one large collection that the students named "Tales from Mrs. Taylor's Universe." Even the cover was designed by the students. We reproduced and bound enough copies for each student to have his or her own, and it is still a favorite of mine today!

See Bookmaking Projects: http://www.makingbooks.com/projects.html for just a few more ideas!

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