Assembling Your Instructor's Guide

Follow along as we demonstrate how to put together your BookShark Binder! We used the Instructor's Guides from the Level B All-Subject Package for this example, but the process is the same for all of our packages.

The Binder and Guides

The BookShark D-Ring Binder is extra wide to fit three or four Instructor’s Guides. It comes with 36 weekly tabs for every week in the school year, as well as tabs for Section Three and Section Four resources. It also has a pocket in the back for Timeline Figures or additional notes. One binder is included in the Required Resources package, but you may want to consider purchasing a second binder if you are using more than 3 or 4 Instructor's Guides at one time.

Each Instructor’s Guide is divided into four sections. Section One has the table of contents and some introductory materials about the program. Section Two has the 36 week schedule with notes, activity sheets, and answer keys. Section Three has several Instructors’ Guide resources, including the booklist, the scope and sequence for the year, recommendations for teaching teach, and reference material to give me a deeper understanding of the topics. Section Four has tips for new users on how to use the schedule, how to set up the guide, and how to adapt the program. Section Four also has the Proof of Purchase page. We print our Language Arts guides on slightly different paper than the History and Science guides. You can use that to find things quickly in your binder.

Step-by-Step Assembly

1. Open your binder and lay out your guides in the same order you want them in your notebook. We recommend the following order: History, Language Arts, and Science.

2. Place the Section One materials for each guide into the binder before the Week 1 tab.

3. Put all of Section Two behind the numbered tabs – starting with Week 1. Each week begins with a schedule page and is followed by daily notes. The Language Arts and Science guides also have a weekly activity sheet. Take the first week from History, Language Arts, and Science, and put them together behind the Week 1 tab. Then, flip to the second tab and do the same thing with Week 2.

4. Add the Section Three and Section Four resources to the tabs at the end. There is a tab for each section. Section Four is the same in every BookShark guide, so you only need to keep one copy in your binder - but don't forget to save the Proof of Purchase pages from the others!