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Decoupage Book Covers - Continued








The decoupage notebook covers were a hit with the students this past week. What I did was run this project concurrent with the ABC book project, which eliminated a bunch of students crowding me at once with their complete notebook covers.
In order to complete the ABC book within the five days allotted they had to finish 5 ABC blocks a day. Once they had completed those blocks they could start working on their book covers.
I quickly had to let go of my desire to check over every child's book cover layout and offer suggestions for improvement before they glued down. If they were happy....I was fine with it. Once they completed their layout and glued it down on the black cover paper they brought it to me and they started the decoupage. I laid out the books on the floor to dry and they completed their second coat the next day (to speed up time, in some cases, I did the first coat and the students did the second coat).

I am not going to lie...this was a very messy project. I had scraps of paper and magazine cuttings all over the floor. I relied on my homeroom kids to straighten the magazines and sweep up (I have a lot of really helpful students in my homeroom).
I was running out of magazines and I put out an "all call" school wide for any nature related magazines and was inundated with more then I could use (which will be saved for next year).
What I enjoyed about this project is watching the creativity of the students. I had several students who had a real design flair. I did talk about the need to have a "focal picture" and then to build around it...some listened and others didn't.
The sad part about this project is that all the students want to take their books home at the end of the year now. YIKES! I rely on several students to leave theirs behind each year and I am afraid I have made the book more attractive as a keepsake. Darn :)
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Anonymous said…
I will be teaching for the first time this fall and want to do the science notebook with a three ring binder. Any suggestions on using the same idea for personalization with the binder? I'm not sure if they will all come with a binder that will allow a cover page to be slid in. Love your site. It's given me several ideas. Thank you.
June 4, 2010 at 8:58 AM
Eve Heaton said…
I am not sure. I guess that I would try decoupage on the front cover of a binder that doesn't have a slip in front. A slip in front would be the best senario though. Good luck with the upcoming school year!

Eve
June 5, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Emily Riedmayer said…
Eve - I love this idea! Now that I'm on break I'm picking at your blog as well as some others to re-vamp my notebook for next year. I had fun with it this year and it worked well but there are some changes that I need to make.

I'm thinking this cover idea could work at the very beginning of the year when they are introducing themselves to the class. This way the notebooks are more of their own. That was one complaint I had from kids this year - they liked doodling on their covers to make it theirs not the black and white that they were.
June 18, 2010 at 9:25 AM
Eve Heaton said…
Emily -

Hope you guys are enjoying Florida! You need to let me know how the decoupaging project goes at the beginning of the year I would like to know how it holds up. A friend told me that you can make the decoupage glue easily by mixing white Elmer's glue and water instead of buying the expensive modge podge stuff from walmart ($7). I used 2 bottles of the modge podge for my 70+ students.

Eve
June 20, 2010 at 8:15 AM
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