Reading Matters Winter 2019

(4.25” x 5.5”) using a paper cutter. This will give you four pages per sheet. Line up the pages on the comb-binding machine so that you can punch six holes. There are guide marks on the comb-binding machine that you can use to determine where to punch the six holes or you can designate your own with a sticker. When producing a class book, we usually increase the size using larger covers. • Cut mat board 6” x 5” using a sturdy paper cutter. We get a plentiful supply of colorful scrap mat board free of charge from frame shops. Framers punch out an interior piece of the mat board to make a frame. The interior piece is usually left for scrap. It is easy to make front and back matching covers. Punch six holes in the mat board. When punching the front cover and the back cover be sure to reverse the punching procedure for each cover so they will match perfectly when aligned. That is, punch the front cover with the colorful side facing upwards and the back cover with the colorful side facing downwards. The placement of the mat board on the comb-binding machine will be slightly different from placement for the pages because the mat board is a little larger. • We like to make name plates for our students. We affix the typed name of each student and the title of the book. We make one set of name plates (1.5” x 2.0”when cut out), that can easily be modified for many different titles. We use the “Replace” option on Microsoft Word to make a new set of nameplates. The professional looking nameplate is very impressive, easy to create, and encourages students to treasure books they make even more than they ordinarily would. We also make colorful nameplate frames from cardstock and cut pieces of clear plastic adhesive such as ConTact™ laminating film, Duck Peel & Stick™ or Scotch™ self-seal to cover the name plate frames.

Reading Matters Teaching Matters

Materials: The basic materials are covers, combs, and pages

Picture 5 • A comb-binding machine (Picture 5) such as the Ibico Kombo™ provides the means for binding the books. We have found that many schools have a binding machine of this type. When purchasing a comb-binder we recommend getting a sturdy machine capable of easily punching through mat board. We suggest keeping the machine on a rolling cart for ease of transport since many of them are heavy. On the other hand, avoid machines that use spiral bindings because they usually do not have the capacity to produce the books described herein. If a comb-binding machine is not available, the books can be constructed by making holes in the cover and pages using an electronically powered hole-puncher. The covers and pages can be held together with yarn. • Plastic combs are used for binding. We cut the 11- inch combs into sections of six comb rings for the project described here. The three-quarter inch comb size works well. The standard sized combs contain 19 binding rings; however, be sure that the combs are combatable with your comb-binding machine. • Make pages for the books from 110 lb. or 67 lb. cardstock. Regular weight copy paper (20 lb.) is too flimsy for making durable pages. Cut the pages precisely into fourths

Last page and back cover of a book from study of states by fifth grade students

Contents of the comb-bound book can complement a wide variety of learning activities. Here are examples of some we have done:

• Students have made books featuring lists of sight words and accompanying sentences containing the words with the names of the students in the class embedded in the sentences.

| 38 | Reading Matters | Volume 19 • Winter 2019 | scira.org

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