Publishing Student Writing - Paper Bag Books

In previous posts, I've talked about publishing student writing using a variety of binding techniques. I've also talked about publishing student writing through lapbooking, creatively using poster board and Bare Books. This post focuses on one of my favorite types of handmade books, paper bag books.

An example of a paper bag book can be seen above and below. My daughter completed this particular book during her 4th grade English class as a way to publish her personal narrative essay. She chose to write about her experience purchasing her hamster.

Making a paper bag book is very easy and very inexpensive. One of the aspects of paper bag books that I enjoy is that it is very easy to make different sized books - just use different sized paper bags. The above book is about 8" by 8" but we have also made books with smaller bags. One can also easily find white bags or bags in different colors at craft stores. I have included links below to simple instructions for making paper bag books.

• http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/paper-bag-album-instructions.html#a1


• http://www.making-mini-scrapbooks.com/paperbagbooks.html


• http://www.making-mini-scrapbooks.com/paperbagalbum.html


• http://www.making-mini-scrapbooks.com/index.html (This link is an absolute treasure trove of adorable and interesting book making ideas. I think they are useful both for publishing purposes and for scrapbooking!)

Here is another example of a paper bag book that my daughter completed to publish her compare and contrast essay in her 4th grade English class. This particular paper bag book is just 6" by 6". We have used "Super Paper Bag Books" as a fun resource for making paper bag books. "Super Paper Bag Books" features simple instructions, complete with reproducibles for 10 different paper bag books. My youngest child completed a shape book when he was in kindergarten using the idea and reproducibles from "Super Paper Bag Books." One of the really fun things about this project is that he could cut out lots of circles from different resources and then stick them all in the paper bag about circles.

Here is another project from "Super Paper Bag Books. This is a self-portrait book that my daughter completed several years ago. In this project the paper bag is used primarily just as a base. Paper bag books are easy to make, very inexpensive, and easy to vary in terms of size and color. Consider trying a paper bag book the next time a publishing idea is needed for your children's writing!