foldables.

What are foldables? Foldables are interactive graphic organizers that students create. These hands-on tools can be used in any subject and grade level. Foldables allow students to organize, display and arrange data to create a visual aid that supports understanding of concepts, facts and ideas.

I introduced foldables in my second practicum as a study aid for the grade 7 geography unit on the environment. It was a great success! The students were excited to discover how they were going to use this new tool. Each student was responsible to create their own foldable, which they used to organize and record notes on the four components of the environment. Each student was given a sheet of paper and scissors with the basic instructions: fold, cut, fill. It is important to model the process, step by step, with the students, noting where to fold, cut and record the information. This is what the final product looked like:

 

Students used the outer flaps to record the name of the component of the earth (e.g. the atmosphere , the inside flaps to record key notes, including important points, diagrams and terminology. Finally, the back of the foldable was used to illustrate the layers of the earth, which students coloured and labeled  A tip when using this graphic organizer is to use coloured paper which not only stands out, but also invites students to engage in note taking. However, be cautious not to over use foldables as a tool, ensuring that the novelty does not ware off with students.

     

There are many different ways that foldables can be used and folded. Here are some examples of foldables that you can use in your classroom:

The hamburger/ hot-dog fold: this foldable can be created with 2-tabs, 3-tabs, or multi-tabs. It is used for comparisons,  points of view, timelines or recording vocabulary. 

The shutter fold: this foldable can be created with 2-panels, 4-panels, or multi-panels and is used for comparisons; summaries; what, where, why, when; pre, post, for and against, term analysis and charts

The layered book fold is often used to tell a sequence of events, such as geological time, process of the rock cycle, process and classification.


  

Foldables were created by Dinah Zike to support student learning. More information can be found on her website.