I know I’ve talked incessantly about my love of binders on here over the years. And, while they are still so appealing in their sleek, organized way…I have found a new true love this year.
❤ My Pro-Click Binding Machine ❤
I first learned about this beautiful tool on Reagan’s blog, Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits: How Do You Spell?? (Reagan’s blog makes me wish I taught a primary grade every time I read about her incredible ideas!)
I was not asked to advertise this product in any way and you know I only share the things I truly adore with you…and this is definitely one of them!
Maybe I should backtrack a teeny bit. You know those comb-binding machines many schools have? They’re nice, but the combs never last. In our class, anyhow. This is a common occurrence over time:
And you know that just means those pages are going to start slipping out.
Totally frustrating.
Which prompted me to hot glue each of the little combs closed, just so they wouldn’t rip off. You can see it in this ancient post here: Publishing Student Books That Last! It worked, but you can imagine how tiresome this became over the years.
Needless to say, I was so excited at the prospect of a new binding machine. AND it was just cheap enough for me to spend some extra cash to get one for my classroom (ie no more waiting in line to bind!). I got my machine on Amazon (affiliate link here) and the spines come in a box of 45 (affiliate link here).
It is SO worth the money.
Binding is such an easy (and more permanent!) process now. You can put in about 5 sheets at a time, line them up, and slide the lever to punch the holes:
The machine punches all these cool little circles:
Then you just line up the binding and click each one closed (makes a satisfying little snap too!):
And that’s that! You have a lovely little book all bound and ready to go!
Do you know what the best part is? The bindings are super-strong and last all school year!
No more twisted and broken combs, no more pages falling out…it’s a dream come true! (Can you imagine if a non-educator was reading this post…they’d probably be rolling their eyes! But you get what I mean, right?).
Though I could easily bind everything in sight (because I love it so) I do try to curb it a bit to avoid endless spine-purchasing. I use these for my students’ Morphology Dictionaries, published writing pieces, and my daily checklists:
I hope this was of some help if you did not know about this machine! It is simply wonderful for the classroom and would be an even better deal to purchase and share school wide.
Thanks so much for visiting! Happy Mother’s Day to all the incredible teacher-mothers out there!!! 🙂
Kristen Beakey
I’m an elementary math coach with a passion for sharing beautiful, streamlined solutions to save teachers time. Ladybug’s Teacher Files has been a work of love since 2010. Filled with tech tutorials, math ideas, and organization…I strive to save you time in all aspects of your teaching!
2 Comments
I too love binding and have used this particular binding apparatus for years. The two issues I have are: you can only punch 6 pages of regular printer paper at a time. The second is it’s sometimes difficult to tell if the paper is all of the way in.
The BEST feature is you don’t have to take all of the paper out to add a sheet that needs to be replaced or added.
I too love binding and have used this particular binding apparatus for years. The two issues I have are: you can only punch 6 pages of regular printer paper at a time. The second is it’s sometimes difficult to tell if the paper is all of the way in.
The BEST feature is you don’t have to take all of the paper out to add a sheet that needs to be replaced or added.
Hi Lori!! I TOTALLY agree with both points! Thanks so much for reading!