DLTK's Educational Ideas - Print and Assemble Books
Five Little Turkeys Mini Book

This mini-book has the words to the children's Thanksgiving poem, Five Little Turkeys.  It's also available as a single page poetry printable.

Materials:

• printer,
• paper (you can use a slightly heavier paper for a longer lasting book)
• stapler
• something to color with (if using B&W template)

Directions:

We have prepared a demonstration video about assembling your mini book >

• Print template of choice.  The B&W version is fun for young children to color in or for older children to color as gifts for younger ones.  I like printing a color cover and B&W pages.
• Color the template pieces if you are doing the B&W version.

• If you imagine a 'real' book for a second, you know that each page has printing on the front and the back.  We're going to fold the pages to make it like a real book.
  • Ignore the cover for now.
  • Fold each page along the center dotted line so the images are on the OUTSIDE and the blank sides of the paper are on the inside (imagine you're making a greeting card).
  • You can use a glue stick, if you like, to glue the pages together (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE COVER!)
• Stack the pages, so the odd numbers are on top and the folded edges are lined up.  Trim with scissors or paper cutter if needed.

COVER PAGE:

• Fold the cover page along the dotted line, again with the images on the outside.
• OPTIONAL:  You can laminate the cover page or print it on cardstock if you want it to be more like a real book's cover.

ASSEMBLE THE BOOK:

• Open the cover page (like a folder) and slip the pages inside so that when you open the cover you'll see page 1 -- the unfolded edges of the pages will go against the folded part of the cover.
• Close the cover page and tap the book so everything lines up.
• Put three or four staples along the edge to hold the book together.
• Trim again, if needed.
• Flip through the book once, carefully folding the pages to make the book easier for the children to read.

PRINTING the templates

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).
• There'll be less trimming to do if you also turn off the headers and footers.

Text of the Mini Book
(so you can read through it before printing)

Mini Book Templates:

         COVER      color   B&W

Page 1 and 2     color   B&W

Page 3 and 4     color   B&W

Page 5 and 6     color   B&W

Page 7 and 8     color   B&W

Page 9 and 10   color   B&W

Printable version of this instruction page