When I first started teaching I knew for a fact that my piano kids never cracked open their back and forth piano binders. Over the years I’ve tried many different things from sticky notes pasted right onto their piano sheet music to inventive ways of luring them to read my lesson notes. And while it’s certainly improved, I’m always looking for ways to change things up.
As you may have read on this blog before, I’m not a crafty person… so when I decided to take on this project for a few of my piano kids it was not without trepidation. But… I am a total computer geek and so with a little help from technology I was able to create something that I was happy with… and I’m sharing those piano printables with you today!
Keepsake Piano Binders; More Than Just Lesson Notes
This works great with 9-12 year old girls – they love the “secret notebook” idea and they were super excited about the prospect of making their piano back and forth book into a keepsake. With a few adjustments I also made it really appealing to boys of the same age.
Instead of just piano lesson notes, my piano keepsake books contain fun little cut-outs, opportunities for the students to be creative, places to remember special moments in their lessons, doodle spots and more! The sky’s the limit when creating these – they can be as elaborate or as simple as you like. The idea is to turn the back and forth book into something they not only use on a regular basis but that also acts as a kind of student assessment for parents and a way of displaying all of the cool projects that take place in your piano studio.
The best part…. you don’t need to do a thing! I just give my students a page with a theme to it and a small selection of cut-outs and they do the rest! They love to show me what they created the following week. And… because my lesson notes are there, they’ve read them! I’ve started using a laptop to type up student notes in the lesson so it’s literally a print/stick and they’re done.
Here’s a visual of just a few pages from my students’ books:
You can download some printables here (titles and cuties) to get you started, but your own can easily be created in any word document. Pepper your piano kids’ notebooks with photographs, anecdotes from your lesson time together, things they are proud of, student awards that you’ve bestowed etc. fun facts printed from the internet and more! You’ll probably find yourself enjoying the back-and-forth binder process much more as well.
The ultimate “secret notebook-style” piano resource is our “Shhhh… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is Practice”. Your piano kids will be so excited to take home these 88 activities that will have them glued to their benches at home with delight!
Leia says
I love this idea, but I’m not sure what a back-and-forth binder is! Is it just a binder in which lesson notes are normally put? Or does it hold other things, too? I can see how these cut-outs would be a fun addition to their practice logs!
Alice says
I love the idea, but how do you find the time?! One more thing to keep track off, and I already find it hard to keep track of current materials.
Andrea says
If anyone doesn’t have time it’s me! That’s why this idea is so simple – the kids are the ones who create the pages, and because of this they are spending time reading your insights and lesson notes, they are feeling more connected to the lesson/learning process and you are also creating a form of assessment all at the same time! Just keep a freezer-size ziploc bag of the cut-outs beside the piano and hand out a few in an envelope each week. Easy! 🙂
Andrea says
Hi Leia – I call the lesson notes I take for them each week (what we worked on, what to pratice etc.) their back and forth book. It can be a binder or a bound notebook.
Leia says
Thanks Andrea! All my students have binders where they keep their supplementary repertoire, worksheets, and lesson notes of course. I have printed these out and am looking forward to using them with my students!
jeannie myers says
In the Piano/Voice Room, I keep a 1 drawer file cabinet with a smaller drawer on top(pencils, etc. . .) and on top of that, a glass shelf (found at a garage sale). In the file drawer I have a hanging folder of each student with materials that I will use in a lesson — maybe not that week but something that I know will be of interest at some time for that student. Each lesson time, I look through the folder and pick what I want for that week’s lesson. Some of the students have 30 to 40 sheets but that way I never run out of something new for that student.
Michelle says
I love this! I switched to binds this year from coil bound notebooks so I could add handouts more easily AND I added an attendance page in the form of a treble clef with a square for each lesson to sticker when they come. At th end of the year it will be full of sparkly, smelly seasonal stickers and show a record of their attendance. I can’t wait to add this idea to it as well. Awesome as always! 🙂
Cathrine says
Michelle–love your idea of the attendance treble clef–very fun! Thanks for sharing that!
Joanne says
I love your title “back and forth book”. I’m going to steal it. lol I just started doing a similar thing last week. I use a notebook, punched. the kids keep it in there binders. I print in their books by hand with black pen using different fonts and use funky pencil crayons for the seasons, draw little pictures etc. It makes the lessons more enjoyable for me because I love to doodle. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m in a lesson not art class. Stickers are great too! You can get them at the dollar store for any occasion. I think it’s nice because it becomes a jounal for the kids.
Joanne says
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Andrea says
Exactly the idea Joanne! You’re already one step ahead of me 🙂 Thanks for sharing your take on the idea.
Christine says
This is a great idea Andrea, thank you for blogging about it! Definitely using this for my students this year (and perfect timing, as lessons start up at our school today!
Andrea says
Happy first day Christine!