For the remainder of the course I have been going back and forth with two different ideas/plans. I may by lying, it might be 3.

First Plan

I’ve been saying I want to add more book making into my curriculum for my students. I made tunnel books with 5th grade (they loved it), and I had planned to make explosion books with my 6th grade students, but then we closed.

In progress photo of my 5th graders’ tunnel books
Another in progress photo of tunnel books. Miss my students!
Finished tunnel book from a 5th grader. Sorry this picture is not the best! My in class photos are normally taken in between classes or when I have a split second to snap a picture during class. I need to work on this.
Explosion book example found via the web.

Here is a video tutorial on explosion books in case you find these intrguing. I made an example for my 6th graders (it’s in school), so the picture above is not my example, it’s from a quick google image search. With my 6th graders we were going to do self portraits, op art, or abstract art with the explosion books. Maybe all 3!

I loved going through the book structure examples, and I can already see certain grade levels creating certain book structures. For example the pop up books-how much fun would that be with the primary grades. I can already imagine the students’ eyes lighting up when they open their book to a pop up!

If I go with “First Plan”, the next several weeks would look like this:

  1. Creating book structure examples of my own with specific grade levels in mind
  2. Creating video tutorials of myself creating the book structures for students to watch
  3. I would share these video tutorials via the blog, along with step by step directions (similar to my step by step how to PDF for the flag book structure).
  4. I would focus on creating book making projects for grades K-4, since I already have book making projects for my 5th and 6th graders.
  5. Finally, and if time allows, I wanted to explore which book structure would be best to create sketchbooks for grades 3-6. Last year I printed and stapled sketchbooks together for K-6 students, and then they were able to decorate, color, add their own touches to the sketchbooks whenever they had time during art.
  6. I lied, this is finally, I LOVE the idea of having students create a card carrying blizzard book, (see Cheryl Maney’s blog post here) for their artist trading cards. So finally (for real this time) I would also create a card carrying blizzard book example for students, grades 3-6 to create.

To summarize, my first plan/thought would to create books along with lesson plans that can be used in the K-6 art classroom.

Second Plan

While going through the book structures, I really liked the binding book structure examples (Japanese Stab Binding, Chain Stitch Book Binding, Pamphlet Stitch, Saddle Stitch Binding, Perfect Binding). While creating the zine and my flag book I realized I really wanted to create a book that has a spine, or that required some sort of binding, instead of folding. For example when exploring flag books I posted a picture of Ann Kittridge’s work because I really enjoyed the colors, but also how she bound it together.

If I would to go with my second plan I would spend the next several weeks:

  1. Exploring book binding and staying away from books that are folded such as the accordion book, sculptural books, crown binding
  2. Collecting various materials to create books (paper, card stock, book covers, tape, needles, string)
  3. Creating books that are bound together. In other words the books I create would all require string or glue to hold the pages together.
  4. When creating I would create video tutorials that could be used for your own personal use, or for use in your classroom

Third Plan (I lied again, I have one more thought)

I could combine my two plans together, and do a little bit of both. As a teacher the first plan/thought is important to me. Once the school year starts my energy goes back into teaching, so creating projects/plans over the summer before things get too hectic is always important to me.

My second plan I feel is a little more selfish (not that I think it’s bad). Like I said in my introductory post I firmly believe to be the best art educator I can be I need to fill my well.

If I combine my two plans into a more hybrid model, or what I am calling my Third Plan, I would spend the next several weeks doing the following:

1) Creating some books that can be used in the K-6 art room along with a lesson plan and how to video tutorial that you and myself can use in the classroom.

2) Creating some books exploring different binding techniques. I would also post video tutorials that you can use for yourself or in the classroom if your age group would be appropriate for the level difficulty or simplicity of book binding I complete.

This is where I’ll start…

I do have a starting point. I am going to start by creating a book that I personally want to create to store my zines, but could also be used in the/my K-6 art room for students to store their artist trading cards.

I am going to explore the card carrying blizzard book. Considering this is a book structure I hope to use in my classroom, I will also create a plan/how to for the classroom that you and I can use. My plan will be geared towards 3-6, but of course you can always tweak to your liking.

https://bookzoompa.wordpress.com/category/non-adhesive-book/

I know that was a lot longer than 250 words. I appreciate it if you made it this far. If you have books that you’ve been wanting to create with your students and would like me to create a tutorial for that specific book leave me a comment. I am a book making beginner, but as a teacher I am always willing to share or help create material that can be used in the classroom!

Or if you’ve made books with certain grade levels that you think I should try out for my classroom leave me a comment as well. Jonah I know you said you’ve made pop up books with 3rd grade- l hope to create a pop up lesson for my younger group of students.

If you are experienced with binding books, and you have a suggestion on a binding technique I should start with, materials, shops/websites I should look at to find materials also leave me a comment. (:

Gina