Although I am not very crafty, I love to make my own resources when an idea hits me (which is, unfortunately, not very often!). My latest idea came after getting these boxes from Gigi’s Cupcakes. (Kleenex boxes would work great too!) They reminded me of the story cubes that are present in many classrooms.
To make them, I first measured the width and height of each side. Gigi’s boxes aren’t congruent on all sides, so I had to make two different sizes to cover the boxes. This is easy to do in PowerPoint.
Click on “Design” then “Page Setup”.
In the drop-down menu, select “Custom”. This allows you to create a layout to fit any need. Then, in the boxes below, enter the width and height that you need.
When it comes time to print, the images will print on only one page if you simply go to “Print”. To change this, I saved the slides as images. Simply “Save As” and then click “Other Formats”.
The menu will give you several image formats to save as including PNG (largest file size), JPEG, and GIF (smallest file size). I save mine as PNG for the best quality.
Finally, I open a “New Slide” and insert two pictures before hitting print.
When cutting the images out, leave a slight border. This will help to cover the edges where the sides meet!
When attaching the images to the cubes, I have used both stick glue and adhesive-backed paper. They both work well.
So far, I have made cubes for basic story recall, text features, higher-level comprehension, and basic addition. You can download the files below but please note that they were created to be used with Gigi’s Cupcake boxes (2 sides equal to width= 4in height= 4in, while 4 sides are equal to width= 4in height= 4.5in). If your box is of a different size, you will need to follow the PowerPoint instructions above to create your own.
Download:
Credits:
Fonts: Teaching with Style
Other possible cube ideas: beginning sounds, word families, subtraction, and money!
While you’re at it, make sure to check out what everyone else has made at 4th Grade Frolics.
Have a great week!
