Making Books!

Hi Bloggy Friends!  I have something wonderful to share with you all today.  I received a comb binding machine and wanted to share with you how much fun my girls and I have had with it.  I can't wait to use it with my class.  I have 1001 ideas already!  First, it is super easy to use.  Pull it out of the box and you are ready to go.  It's lightweight so it was easy to pull out of the box and set up.  It has nice suction cupped feet so there's no slipping and sliding!




It has a super sharp blade so it easily cut through 10 sheets of paper at once.  After you punch your paper, slide on a plastic binding comb, and pull down the handle.  There's a small button on the far right side of the handle that locks the binding machine open so you can use both hands to line up your paper and easily slide it into the plastic comb.  (They have plastic combs in many colors.  Don't you love this blue?  It was my daughter's favorite!)
Here's her first official book!  She was so excited!  She writes hundreds of books and has used everything from staples to string and anything else that she can find to bind it.  With the comb binding machine, she said she finally got to make a real book.  (It's going to be hard to get it away from her and take it school!)

A few things that I love about this binding machine:
1.  It's lightweight, yet very durable.
2.  It's so easy to use, my 6 year old daughter can use it.
3.  It has a large paper tray that collects all of the paper pieces from the punches.  It removes and replaces easily. (No smacking, yelling, or ugly words required!)
4.  You can easily slide the little dial on the bottom of the binder to change the standard paper size.  No more guessing if it's going to be centered.

paper tray

dial that adjusts for different paper sizes

My daughter making another book all by herself! (Yes, she had constant supervision!)

You want one too, don't you?  Here is the main site.  Here is a direct link to this comb binding machine.  

So, how am I going to use this in my classroom?  Here's a few ideas:

1. Students write and publish their own books on anything and everything.

2. Personal word walls.

3. Handwriting practice books.

4. Daily morning work for the week/month.

5. Weekly/monthly homework.

6. Parent communication notebook that I send home daily for parents to sign.

7. Writing/reading journals.

8.  Math journals.

I could keep going, but I bet you have 1001 ideas too!  So. how are you going to use yours in your classroom?