How-to article Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to reinforce students' learning in social studies, mathematics, and other curriculum areas? Show students how to use columns in Microsoft Office Word 2000 to create their own bookmarks that summarize curriculum themes or units. Students can add clip art from the collection in Word or from other sources, and then add their own words by using a text box or WordArt. On This PageLesson information|
Instructional level | | • | Intermediate user | | • | Advanced user |
| School level | | • | Elementary school (Grade 3 and up) | | • | Middle school (11–15 years) | | • | High school (14–18 years) |
| Curriculum areas | | • | Language arts | | • | Mathematics | | • | Behavioral and social studies | | • | Science | | • | Technology | | • | Work skills |
| Software required | Microsoft Office Word 2000 |
Sample uses of student-created custom bookmarks | • | Science: Rainforests, plants, weather, the human body, planets, electricity | | • | Social studies: States, countries, geography, famous people, wars, battles | | • | Language arts: Books students have read, poems, a holiday theme, a seasonal theme | | • | Mathematics: Time, measurement, geometry, fractions, decimals |
ObjectiveUse columns to design bookmarks that go along with any curriculum area. Here's how: Design a custom bookmark using columns 1. | Start Microsoft Office Word with a new, blank document open. | 2. | Rotate your page sideways by clicking the File menu and then Page Setup. On the Paper Size tab, select Landscape, and then click OK. | 3. | Click the Columns button on the toolbar, and then select 3 Columns (or the number of columns necessary for your bookmark project). | 4. | To insert a picture into the first column, click the Insert menu, click Picture, and then click Clip Art. 
Tip:  The Borders and Frames category has many pictures that work well within a bookmark. | 5. | Resize the picture so that it fills up the first column as much as you like. You might want to try using the middle handle at the bottom of the picture to resize it so that you stretch the picture in length only. But be careful: Some pictures won't look right if they are stretched too far in length. | 6. | Add text to your bookmark. Try adding a text box inside the bookmark area of column one. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Text Box button. (If the Drawing toolbar is not visible, click the View menu, then click Toolbars, and then click Drawing.) Inside the first column, click and drag a narrow text box in which you would like to type some text. Press ENTER after each letter if you want the text to run up and down instead of across. Remember to format the text to make it appealing to you.
Feeling fancy? Try adding WordArt to your bookmark instead of a text box. (The Insert WordArt button also appears on the Drawing toolbar.) Explore the different shapes and styles of your WordArt. Move and resize your WordArt as needed. 
Tip: To make your WordArt vertical instead of horizontal, select one of the styles on the right side of the WordArt Gallery. | 7. | Create more bookmarks in the second and third columns. |
Explore different uses of pictures, borders, and frames, as well as text boxes and WordArt. Be creative with your font selections, text color, and picture choices. You'll be amazed at the great bookmarks you design. Some might even turn into gifts! More ideas for customizing bookmarks| • | Add pictures from other sources, such as the Internet, a digital camera, a scanner, or pictures from a CD. | | • | Print your bookmarks on colored paper (or even thicker paper if your printer accepts it). | | • | Laminate your bookmarks to make them last longer. Try punching a hole at the top of your bookmark, and tie a piece of yarn through the hole. | | • | Hand out bookmarks to parents and other relatives as gifts. | | • | Create a bookmark with a theme that matches a curriculum unit you just completed. |
Innovative teaching 
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