Oh my glueness....

Today was day one of #CAMT14.  This is my third year attending the conference and it's so nice to be able to meet and collaborate with like-minded teachers who are looking for ways to improve their craft.

Rather than try to fit my whole day into one post, I've decided to share the one thing from today that I think will make the biggest impact on my classroom this year.  Glue!  Glue is essential for interactive notebooks, and you can't just use any glue.  All teachers know that glue sticks don't really stick (the "stick" in glue stick refers to the shape of the product, not what the product does!).  In order to ensure that items in your notebook stay adhered to your notebook, you need to use white school glue.

But, white school glue comes with its own issues.  The kids don't know the meaning of less is more and use enough to put Humpty Dumpty back together!  Today's tidbit, was to only use the small glue bottles in class.

The bottles we used today were 1.25 oz.  The rationale?  Your students will see the smaller bottle and think that they need to use it sparingly so as not to use all of the glue.  (What mind games we sometimes play!).  I've done some research, and since these bottles are less "standard", they are actually more expensive than the 4 oz. bottles (there's definitely a math problem in there!), but since the bottles can be refilled, stock up on the 4 oz. bottles during the back to school sales and use them to refill the smaller bottles.

What about clogged bottles you ask?  Did you know you can pull off the little orange "cap" (I know your students do!).  If you pull off the "cap", take some petroleum jelly and coat the inside.  It will prevent your glue from clogging.  Easy, right?!

One last idea.....you've seen all of the fun duct tape that the craft stores have these days, right?!  Find some colorful tape and wrap the bottle around the label.  It'll serve a couple of purposes, but first and foremost, it'll make the bottle really cute, and who doesn't love that!  (It'll also reinforce the bottle - the kids sometime squeeze hard!, and there will be no question about who the bottle belongs to!)

I seriously can't believe I just wrote an entire post on glue!