The third graders made their own journals last week by combining card stock covers with stacks of lined paper and bookmark ribbons, along with a QR code to this very blog.  I then sewed all of the bindings so that they stay together.  I've made an Instructable that explains this process here.

The students will be using their journals throughout their IDEA Lab tinkering class to brainstorm, sketch, and take notes from their observations.  The first page of the journals has a wordle containing our theme this year, the 5 B's: Build, Beautiful, Bot, Burst, and Become.

— Tatian Greenleaf

My plan is to have our 3rd grade IDEA Lab students make their own journals to use for brainstorming, sketching, planning, and note-taking.

Here are some sources of inspiration and instruction that I found helpful:

• Make a notebook from a paper bag in 5 minutes
• DIY smash style book
• How to make a loop pen holder (video)
• DIY perfect bound

I got out the sewing machine last night and asked my wife how to use it.  She showed me how to stitch a binding through sheets of paper and a construction paper cover.

Below are prototypes I built showing the binding, lined pages, and a pocket/envelope at the back of one journal.

I also want to have students add paper circuits (activity guide) to their journals to have them turn on a light or make a sound or some other interactive feature.  Here are instructions from Jie Qi and a helpful tutorial. 

— Tatian Greenleaf