Palm Leaf Poetry Books--a classroom project

I've already written about the squash-fold hanging poetry books here and here and here. Those were done in a joint project with 2nd and 6th grade classrooms (working in mixed-age pairs). Here's another classroom project I did with the same pair of teachers, two years earlier. Again, it was part of their poetry writing unit. I wrote about it briefly once before, but am updating it to include instructions.

Based on the palm-leaf books of SE Asia, our hanging books had 4 "pages" with mat-board covers top and bottom. We first discussed possible layouts of text and illustrations, and then made draft pages on copy paper sheets in pencil. Second grade students used pages with lines for their text; sixth graders used blank pages. Books were woven together with waxed linen thread leaving a long tail with a button at the top, both for hanging and to wrap around the folded pages when closed. Pages were made from white tag board; covers were cut from colored mat-board. All covers and pages were cut and pre-punched at my local printers. Labels were designed by the students, usually a title on one cover, their name on the other.

Want to try this project in your own classroom? Download instructions, draft sheets and printing sheets here.

Here are some examples of students' books:

Here is a hand-out I made that shows possible layouts of text and illustration.

More poetry books

Here are more photos of the poetry books from Hilltown Charter School. Most of this batch were made by the younger students. 

Students' Books

After five visits to the classroom, and a lot of hard work, our poetry books are completed. I love the range of topics: everything from the ocean to cupcakes, flatscreen tv's to cats and fruit. Here are a few photos of their work. There is one button on the cover with a string attached that wraps around the four corners of the book. The younger students hand wrote their poems. The older students used computer text that was glued into the books. See the previous post for more information about the project.

Classroom Project

HANGING POETRY BOOKS

I've been preparing all week for a classroom bookmaking project that starts next week at the Hilltown Charter School in Haydenville MA. Two classes will be involved, a grades 2-3 mixed-class and 6th grade class. The students will work in teams, with one older student paired with each younger student. Students will write poetry with the classroom teachers and then choose one poem to be showcased with illustrations in a hand-made book--that's my part.

Here are some photos of the sample books I've been making, including the mock-up sketches and finished books. One is a poem that I wrote, and the other is a peachy poem by Emily Dickinson. Some people call this the lotus book, others call it the diamond-fold book.

Mock-up sketches. The second-graders still write with lines, so writing will be on a diagonal (just like in Persian poetry).

The finished books and some details of the illustrations and text:

The books are made from three 8.5" squares of origami-folded card-stock, glued together. The book folds up into a 4 1/4" square and has added covers and a button closure. The string that wraps around the button can also be used to hang the book on the wall.

These were my samples. To see student's work, go here and here

Want to try this project in your own classroom? Download draft sheets, printing sheets and instructions here.

Please note: print drafts sheets on copy paper and glue together; final pages are printed on white card-stock. All sheets are printed on 8.5 x 11, but cut to 8.5 square.