subject: Using Perforated Paper to Produce Student Workbooks [print this page] Using Perforated Paper to Produce Student Workbooks
Workbooks are a fact of life for most students. But they can be expensive to order and may not even provide the exact teaching materials that you need. Creating your own can be a cost-effective way to provide high quality workbooks tailored to your students' needs. Whether you homeschool and only need a few or are part of a larger organization and use hundreds of books, perforated paper can help you create the perfect workbook for your children. Here's how.
First, gather your materials. Just about any class can benefit from a workbook. Elementary schools may use them to practice writing letters, numbers, words, and eventually short compositions. Middle schools may use a workbook to name countries or identify verbs in a sentence. High school language classes use workbooks to conjugate verbs and practice vocabulary. Science labs in both high school and college use workbooks to track experiments and do analyses. And math classes at any level use workbooks to solve equation. Wherever there is homework, there can be a workbook. Students will appreciate having all their homework in one place as opposed to a plethora of handouts that may get lost in their notebook or backpack.
Next, decide how your workbook will be set up. This will help you decide what type of perforated pages you need. Will your materials start right at the edge? If so you may prefer slightly larger 9" by 11" pages to allow for binding space. Otherwise standard 8.5" by 11" paper will work fine. Will you print on both sides? This allows you to provide the same amount of information in half the paper but often results in visual occlusions from the opposite side. Purchasing 24lb as opposed to 20lb bond paper will provide higher quality results. Legal paper is also available perforated but less commonly used for workbook purposes. This article assumes workbook pages need to be perforated on one edge but an easy tear off panel may work better for some. Pages can also have perforations ranging from 3" to 3-2/3" from one end.
Time to print! Once you have the perforated paper, print out the workbook contents. A great thing about perforated paper is that it's designed to run smoothly through your existing office machines, including copiers and printers. Once perforated, the pages are run through rollers and then sealed in moisture resistant reams to eliminate curling. When you open the package, you'll have flat, quality paper that won't jam your equipment.
Now put everything together. You can bind it yourself if you have a binding machine. If not and a binding device isn't in your budget, many office supply stores offer binding at a reasonable price. Or, for a thinner workbook, you can simply staple the pages down the side. This depends entirely on your resources and how professional the workbook needs to be.
Following these steps, you should be able to easily put a workbook together. Students will learn much better when their workbooks are matched to what they're learning, no matter the subject. And perforated paper will help to insure pages torn out aren't ripped in half or missing problems. Everyone involved will benefit from custom handmade workbooks; design one for yourself today!
