Tuck Everlasting Novel Study... in a Lapbook!!

I recently was talking to a family friend, a teacher of 5th grade, about Interactive Student Notebooks. She said that while she loves looking at all the great pins on Pinterest regarding ISNs, she just knows that they are not her “thing” and never will be. “They are just too much of a commitment!” she said.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I know lots of teachers that are intrigued by the concept of ISNs and enticed by all the fun pins on Pinterest, but just know that committing to using one isn’t for their classroom. All the cutting and gluing, keeping track of the table of contents, collecting them and grading them! I can see how it comes off as an overwhelming process!!

I suggested to my friend that she try creating a lapbook for her next novel study. Lapbooks are a great way to sample life with ISNs, but without the commitment of using one full time. And novel studies make perfect fodder for lapbooks!!

Check out how we put this one together for the novel, Tuck Everlasting. All the foldable organizers come from my Tuck Everlasting Novel Study for Interactive Notebooks.

Start with a plain file folder and fold each side in toward the middle.

It will look like this after you fold both sides. This is the cover of our lapbook.

Next, we will make the pages for the inside of the lapbook. Take several large (12×18) pieces of construction paper (we used white) and fold in half.

Then, take one of the pieces of folded construction paper & place several dots of glue all over the top.

Take another piece of your folded construction paper and lay it on top of the glue.

Press them together firmly.

Now, put glue dots on top of the second piece of construction paper and place a third piece of folded construction paper on top of that.

Continue gluing and stacking your paper until you have the desired number of pages for your lapbook. We used eight pieces of construction paper. Constructing the book this way makes each page two papers thick, making for nice sturdy pages!!

Next, open up your lapbook cover and place several glue dots inside.

Lay the construction paper book you just made directly on top of the glue dots. Now your book is constructed… all that’s left is decorating and filling it up with lots of fun foldable organizers!

Typically, I will leave the decorating of the outside up to the student. They can get as creative as they wish!! Here, we covered the back of the lapbook with glue…

… and covered the back with a piece of scrapbook paper that looks like an old book!

We did the same with the front.

This is a cover that I made on the computer for students to use. If students wanted one, I printed it out on a piece of card stock.

You could also put a cover on the inside on top of the construction paper book.

The next thing I have the students do is glue a piece of notebook paper to the front of the construction paper book to serve as the Table of Contents for the lapbook.

Then, you get to fill your book with pictures, writings, and foldable organizers!!

One of my favorite Pinterest finds was a teacher who prints Literary Analysis Questions on address labels.

Students can glue a piece of notebook paper into their book next to the appropriate foldable organizer and I can stick the label right on the notebook paper. Then, students answer the question using the organizer they just completed!