INB: Attaching Options

As far as I can tell, there are three main ways of attaching items to an interactive notebook:

1. Glue sticks
2. Tape
3. Liquid glue

Usually stapling is eliminated because it tends to rip pages. This is closely followed by liquid glue which is seen to be messy and wrinkles the page badly. In its unaltered form I would agree. But here are my problems...

1. Glue sticks - fine if they are on sale before school starts. But in my area I was only able to find them on sale (at what I consider a buy price - 25 cents for 4) ONE time in the summer. Total bummer, especially since my kids burn through them (or I guess, glue through them). I've found things are going a little better now that I actually duct taped the outside to indicate what group they belonged to. I think I'm also going to implement a "Don't throw away until you show to Mrs. Hester" for glue sticks and markers to ensure they really are in bad shape.

2. Tape is expensive. This is my default method of attachment. I am still working on teaching my darling 9th graders what an appropriate amount of tape is (1 piece, about 2 inches long) for one sheet of paper. Most of them are doing fine. I also started to encourage students to bring there own, which some of them will do.

Each group has their own tape dispenser.

This is why when I found the idea for a glue sponge I was in INB heaven.

First, liquid glue is always on sale before school. I think I probably got 20-30 bottles for about a dollar by the time school started. That amounts to many containers of glue plus refills.

Second, it is cheap, easy and if you play it up there are kids who would much rather use the glue sponge. (I started off last semester with one set per group, and have upped it to two per group because of demand).

Main uses:
Cut and paste activities where they use smaller pieces of paper

Supplies
1. Small containers from the Dollar Tree (or somewhere else cheap)
2. Sponges
3. Lots of liquid glue

Steps:
1. Cut sponge to size using scissors
2. Squirt glue in the bottom of the container
3. Place sponge on top.
4. Squirt glue on top of sponge. Cover
5. Let sit for a while (maybe 30 minutes - 1 hour)
6. Flip sponge over and repeat until sponge is thoroughly sticky.

I will take a few minutes every few weeks to reload the sponges with glue after school. Apparently you can also squirt a little water on them as well to spruce them up.

What are your ideas for using the glue sponge?