Scratch Paper Notepads

I have found that little pieces of scratch paper can be extremely useful throughout a day of teaching mathematics.  I always have SOOO much scratch paper and I could NEVER use it all (even though I use it whenever I can) so I found another way of using it. 

I had seen something that made me think this was possible and just didn't know how to make it work.  Then I remembered that this was the age of the internet, so I found some blogs of people who had done it (http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/10/22/make-your-own-custom-notepads/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Duct-Tape-Tear-Away-Scratch-Pad/ and many others) and set out to try it myself.

I started with scratch paper and headed to the paper cutter!  I wanted to use 1/4 of a piece of paper, so I started cutting...

Starting Point

In Progress

Cut Paper

Then with my stacks of cut paper, I headed back to my classroom where I found binder clips and rubber cement.  I decided not to use anything as backing because I knew my students would go through these notepads quickly!

Everything I Need

At this point I made little stacks of paper and tried to get one edge as flat as I could.

Make an edge flat...

 I then used binder clips to hold the paper together.

Clip

And I used the rubber cement to glue!

Glue

Ta-da!

 I carefully put a clip on the glued end without touching the fresh glue.  This helps to make sure there is pressure in the middle of the notepad too.

One more clip

Stacks of notepads drying!

Now I have perfect little notepads that I can use in many ways throughout my lessons!

I usually glue them 3-5 times before calling it good, but it only takes a little bit of time in between to dry.