All Bound Up

A few years ago I saved my pennies and bought my own binding machine. It is a teacher thing! You would not believe how often I actually use this wonder. I bought the coils on Amazon (of course).

I broke it out the other day to bind a few books for use in my classroom.

The 2 books on directed drawings will be in the classroom library for reference. I explicitly teach my students how to draw many objects, characters and settings with shapes. I never hear "But I can't draw that!" anymore since I started.

The other book is photos of charts we made at the beginning of the year. This is also for reference for students (and parents). I spend the first 2 weeks of school each year teaching my students the expectations I have for the use of all materials. Materials include pencils, scissors, glue sticks, etc. It is amazing what 5 year olds can suddenly decide to try when they are given scissors or a glue stick. We read over this book whenever I think the class might need a refresher.

Also since it is in the class library the kiddos love looking at the pictures. We build the charts together so they remember what ideas they shared.

Sometimes I share it with parents when one of my darlings decides it is okay to draw on the walls with markers for instance. When I discuss this with the parent I have had the experience of being asked, "Well did you tell them that they can't draw with markers on the walls. I don't think it is fair that my child is being punished for something you didn't teach them." Yep, that is teaching somedays in the 2020s. It is the rare parent who has this mindset, but if so I just bring out the book and explain that yes, I did explicitly tell them not to draw on the walls.