Makeover Madness

YOB before and after

We are pausing for a short commercial break. I am participating in a summer teacher challenge of sorts. Our first task was to update teacher materials that needed a fresh coat of paint, so to speak. I try to refresh most of my materials each year while teaching, so the next year’s class gets something different. For all of my makeover ideas for teacher units, visit the Teacher Tools links. To get a quick peak at how I revamped my final novel unit of the year, see the snapshots below.

Year of the Boar before

Year of the Boar after

Click In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson to see the complete teacher materials.

Teacher Tip

sample workbooks

Teachers receive many booklets with reproducible student pages inside. It is easy to recognize this type of teacher material because it looks just like a student workbook but may have 3 holes punched in it. The idea is to have the teacher remove the pages when needed, make copies for students, then start a materials binder that will hold the student worksheet until the teacher needs to copy it again.

Teachers rarely remove the pages because the pages do not pull out easily. The pages tear. The pages get mangled when a person tries to oh-so-carefully remove them along the handy perforation the book publisher provides. Instead, TheRoomMom teachers will push the entire book flat on the copy machine while the copy machine (who think it is smarter than you are) reorients the page, so it copies landscape rather than portrait, and you get a copy of a half a page and a good shot of your arm and watchband.

workbook pages separated

I found a solution. An instructor at a professional development class I attended this summer told me to put the book that you want to separate in the freezer for several hours. When you pull the book out of the freezer, bend the pages back, and the glue will crack. Voila. You can separate all pages and reassemble in a binder.

workbook pages in binder

I apologize to my non-educator followers who might not find today’s post useful. On the other hand, if you have been desperate to find a way to cleanly remove pages from the heavy glue binding in a book, this might just be the tip that will change your world.

cover of workbook in binder