Make Your Own I Spy Book

I have some first grade students who LOVE to write and others who are a little more reluctant.  But this Make Your Own I Spy Book put such a fun spin on writing that all of my students couldn’t wait to start working on it!

When you’re done spying, check out our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop that will help turn your students into little authors!

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Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed out a book cover for each of my students on neon Astrobrights paper to add a motivating pop of color.

Then, I printed out the I Spy pages front to back, folded the pages in half, and made a big stack of them on my writing table.

I Spy Book

I started out this lesson by pulling out an actual I Spy book so that we could play a quick round of I Spy.

Focusing on a blue marble that was shown on one of the pages, I gave kids clues about the object I was thinking of:

“I spy with my little eye something blue.”

“I spy with my little eye something that rolls.”

Students’ hands shot into the air. They were eager to call out their answer.

I waited a few more seconds for other children in class to spot the marble and then invited the kids to whisper their guesses to their neighbor.

Next, I explained that we were going to take the same idea and each make our own I Spy book.  They were excited to say the least!

I showed them my sample book and had them guess the things around the classroom that I had picked!

I said, “I spy with my little eye something that is shiny and makes noise”.  A few students shared their guesses and then one of my kids picked the right object: the teacher bell that I ring when we transition to new activities.

I explained how the pages would be inserted into the books so that our readers would have to flip the page to discover the answer.  

I showed them how to fold the pages in half and then put them into the cover page with the folds facing out. Then, I stapled along the cover’s edge.  I told my kiddos that I would be more than happy to help anyone staple their books together when they were ready.

Finally, I sent them off to create their books!  I loved seeing their creativity flourish and I was impressed with many of the adjectives they used.  It’s amazing what something new and exciting can do for a student’s writing!

Grab Your Copy

Ready to download this activity and start playing I Spy too?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and snag our awesome Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!