Who wants to summarize using foldables???

I love foldables.  They can take the most mundane of material and liven it up so that the kids are meaningfully engaged and learning.  As the year has progressed, I find myself using more and more of these little pieces of paper in my classroom.  My latest craze has been to use them in science.  I find that when I am using them to sum up all of our learning, it helps to create a "one stop shop" for the students to use.  They are able to easily access the information they need, and serves to help them remember just a bit better.

We are studying about Living Systems and how the human body and plants have similar traits.  To begin, we started with the various cells and their functions.  Here was the foldable we used to really sum it all up.  (read all about it here)













To wrap up our journey through the organs of the human body, I had the students create a foldable that included all of the different body systems we have learned about.  They had to not only draw the organs on the front, but then write about them inside.  All of the vocabulary we have learned, the facts, and the functions were described.  Great way to summarize our learning, yet keep the kids interested!

When we moved on to plants,there were a lot of things that we had learned.  Vocabulary, functions, specialized features....the list goes on and on.  To help make a bit more sense of it all, I brought out a foldable to the rescue.  I had the kids create one with a flower on the front.  All parts of the flower were represented.  When opened, the information for each feature was there, with all necessary information!











And finally, instead of just having the students answer the questions in the back of the book, I asked them to use a foldable to do it.  On the front flap, was the basic question.  Inside, the detailed answer.  I think, because it was a foldable and not just a piece of paper, the kids were going above and beyond when it came to the answers....which helped to deepen their learning. 






So there you have it.  Some ways I have found to incorporate foldables into my teaching.  What about you?  Do you use them in your room?  How?

15 comments

  1. Hello Stephanie! I just love everything on your blog! I am giving you the Lovely Blog award! Please stop by blog to see it!

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  2. LOVE the organ system foldable. Next year will be the first time I get to teach the grade 5 science curriculum and I'm SO EXCITED for the Human Body unit! (I already saw this and repinned on pinterest). Have a GREAT Friday!!!

    Jen
    Runde's Room

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  3. LOVE these! I did a lot of foldables last year, but just wasn't able to get many done this year. Next year though, I'm going to jump back on the foldables bandwagon!

    Laura

    Will Grade For Coffee

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  4. I use foldables for every unit in my senior Earth Science class which is mostly made up of 6-18 year old boys! They love them, I love them... we love foldables!

    I especially love the body parts foldable! I'm going to pass this post on to a few teachers at my school, they'll enjoy reading your ideas and blog.

    Addie
    Addie Education - Teacher Talk

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  5. Awesome! I love foldables. I wish we studied the human body in 5th grade, but sadly we don't!

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  6. I have used foldables a few times. I enjoyed them as did the students. I am hesitant to use them because of the time involved. How do you fit them in the schedule and how long do you usually take with them? Your foldables look so fun.

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    1. I guess we have just done so many of them, that they don't really take all that much time. Any added time that would be spent is well worth it in my opinion. I feel like the foldables grab the kids attention so much more, that they remember so much more!

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  7. I love the human body systems foldable! We'll be working on that next week as a review. It's hard to keep the kids interested with 3 weeks of school still left and the standardized testing (and all of the curriculum) behind us! This will be a nice diversion...with purpose!

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  8. I LOVE your foldables! LOVE them! Any grade, any subject can do these!!

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  9. I love foldables too and the more the kids do them, the faster they are at folding! They even start coming up with ideas of their own.

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  10. Super impressed with your foldables that you did. They came out great.

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  11. I absolutely LOVE foldables and flip books and have used them alot. I have a Pinterest board devoted to foldable ideas. I have been teaching first grade for a few year and next year I am moving to 6th - 8th grade science. I am wondering if the middle schoolers will think foldables are too babyish. What do you think?
    Pamela
    pfulk@cox.net
    First Class Teacher

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  12. This is my goal for next year!! FOLDABLES. They are a great organizational tool and very visual for those learners. I will take your suggestions and implement next year- Thank you! :)

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  13. I teach 7th grade science.... and I LOVE FOLDABLES! We use interactive notebooks & foldables are perfect to incorporate into the notebooks! LOVE THESE IDEAS! I could definitely use the specialized cell foldable!

    Thanks for sharing! :)
    Jess

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  14. Thanks for sharing! Teaching a special needs kid at home who responds really well to foldables thanks to MInecraft papercrafts. LOL

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