How much Glue? You say….

As many more teachers are starting to use Interactive Notebooks in their classrooms, more and more questions start coming about and sharing with others is the perfect thing to do! Today’s question:

Betty S. asks: This is my first year doing an interactive notebook. How much glue do you go through? We have gone through a lot so far.

I can’t tell you how many times I have had this question asked to me (and it always comes up when I am presenting teacher workshops as well) so I know it is on the minds of many.

Until last year, I had only ever used glue sticks and we were going through them QUICKLY! I was picky and we only used Elmer’s because they worked the best and then last year Elmer’s Extreme were the ones to beat!

Being in a middle school my students brought them in from their supply list and turned in them into their second period teacher. So I received 6-8 glue sticks in my SMALLEST class period of 9 students (it was 7th grade Resource Math) and that was it! Thankfully I had my own little stock pile but still we ran out within the first month of school midday.

So the problem solver that I am pulled out the stock of liquid glue that I had and we used that for awhile. Now I had to MODEL to 7th graders how to appropriately use liquid glue for an Interactive Notebook and you could hear me saying, “Just a DAB will do!” or “Just a dot, NOT a lot!” throughout the school day.

So back to the question, when I had 120 kids in my 5 math classes, I would estimate we would go through about 10 a week. Remember, each of my boxes had 4 in them (one per student) and they just got a new one as needed. When we ran out, we used liquid glue and students didn’t really like it at times (because they were impatient) so I had to problem solve once again.

Quickly I decided that if they brought in glue sticks to donate to the classroom supplies, they would get one sticker per glue stick. Stickers in my class got earned and kept on Interactive Notebooks to turn in for various rewards. You wouldn’t believe the number of glue sticks I all of a sudden had coming to my room that had been “left in lockers” over the school year.

And now if you are looking for some other great ideas about glue in the classroom, check out the posts below by some blogging buddies!

My blogging buddy Ari, from The Science Penguin, uses liquid glue in her classroom and has started to steer me down her path as well. I love the fact that “Just a dab will do!” or “Just a dot, not a lot.” is a good way for students to use their resources and get it done. Not only that, liquid glue has a stronger bond with paper than glue sticks do over time.

Check out her blog post about the use of liquid glue in your classroom for Interactive Notebooks.

And another blogging buddy Greg, of Kindergarten Smorgasboard, uses the infamous Glue Sponge in his classroom and it totally has me intrigued. Greg shares an awesome video in this blog post on how to set them up.

And if you decided to go the liquid glue route, check out this tip from What The Teacher Wants about how to keep those glue bottles from clogging. Another one that totally rocks my socks!

I hope that this helps answer your questions about glue. Not only the amount to be used but also which type is better for your classroom. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment and you never know… you might be the next to receive an entire blog post all about your question!