Kids LOVE Making Mini-Books! Why You Should Add Them to Your Classroom Writing Center

Do you have a classroom writing center? It was the only “permanent” center that I had in my classroom. It really was the most popular spot in my classroom! I spent time each month finding new and interesting ways to keep it fresh. My students LOVED writing and they LOVED the writing center. By providing fun writing materials my students could let their creativity run wild! Mini-Books are the perfect addition to your classroom writing center!

Mini-Books are Fun!

Blank Mini books are a great way to engage students in creative writing and storytelling. When you have a mini-book you want to tell a story! Not sure why that is, but it is! When I was a kid, mini-books were the be-all and end-all when it came to writing. 🙂

My students had a tendency to write more when they wrote in mini-books because they wanted to have something on every page!

I always encouraged students to take their writing through the Writing Process to “publish” their best writing. Turing their writing into a mini-book was always super motivating!

Blank mini-books also encourage collaboration, as students can share their stories and ideas with their peers. We often added our finished books to our classroom library to share with our classmates. Mini books can be easily adapted for any age group and can be used in a variety of ways to enhance the classroom writing center.

Mini-Books are Easy to Make

Mini-Books come in a variety of sizes and types. The easiest mini-books are those that are made with just one piece of paper! This video shows how my mini-books are folded, but you could always show your students how with a blank piece of paper!

One of the items that were always at a premium in my room was the staplers! Teaching students how to use them correctly and safely took a little time, but then they could make their own multi-page mini-books! Just fold the paper in half, and 2 staples on the fold! If you are really feeling your oats, you could teach your students how to use a swing arm or book stapler

Mini-Books are Versatile!

Because my students wanted to make sure that every page was filled when they wrote in their mini-books they spent more time thinking about their story (or topic). They also learned to organize their writing better to make sure that it made sense when reading their writing as a book.

Mini-Books can be used in so many ways:

• Make a math story problem book.
• Make a mini-book about what you are covering in science.
• Have your students make a mini-book with their spelling words.
• or their Vocabulary Words!
• Use them for morning work and have your students write to a prompt.
• Mini books are perfect for poetry collections.
• Mini-Books work really well with stickers or cut-out pictures
• Mini-Books make great mini journals! Have students keep a journal for a specific topic or unit of study.
• Taking notes! Teach your students to take notes by writing or drawing during videos or stories. A mini-book is a great way to keep your students’ notes together in one place by topic!

Mixing them up each month with fun new mini-book themes is a great way to keep your writing center current! These Blank Mini-Books also come with monthly word banks and even adjective suggestions to provide some scaffolding for your students. The monthly word banks also help the students come up with writing ideas!

Jazz up your Classroom Writing Center

I could always get my students to write if they had a mini-book to write in! Adding mini-books to your writing center will help you to keep it fresh and new. The brain loves novelty, and periodically adding new types of writing materials to your writing center is a great way to keep your students engaged in writing, and interested in using the writing center.

I always tried to keep a drawer with several types and sizes of mini-books that the students could choose from. They could choose the mini-book type that they want, fold, and write! Blank mini-books were always a huge hit in my classroom!

There is a free blank mini-book perfect for your classroom writing center in my Free Resource Library!

Sign up for my weekly Teachery Newsletter to get access to that and many other great freebies!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you found what you were looking for. Sharing is Caring. Save and share the image below, please, and thank you!

Happy Teaching,