Tech Tutorial: How to Make Bookmarks Using PDF Files

I have received so many requests about my Daily 5 Bookmarks that I wanted to share the tutorial with you today in case you wanted to use this for your own class.

My finished Daily 5 bookmarks looked like this:

They were super easy to make and with construction paper backing and laminating, they made it through the year (relatively) unharmed!

Next year, I am going to redo them using my own Daily 5 Signs. These are available in my TpT Store in a HUGE assortment of colors. This tutorial is going to take you through the plain bookmarks, but you could use any color and even mix-and-match them if each center were to be its own color (ex: Word Work is red and supplies are found in a red tub, Teacher Time is purple and you store your items in a purple tub and folder, etc.)

To begin, you will need a pdf file with each slide being one full picture (it will get shrunk down, so make sure it is large enough!) and a printer already installed in your computer. My screen shots are taken from my PC, but the directions are super-similar for a Mac.

First, from the pdf, go to File-- Print.

The screen will then pop up, looking something like this:

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First, click the "Multiple" button because we will want to print multiple pages on one sheet:

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This will automatically show 4 pages on one sheet- 2 across and 2 down. We want to make a bookmark, so we need to adjust the "Custom" settings to 1 across and 5 down:

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The nice part is the preview pane on the right- it will automatically update itself with the selections you make. If it ever seems to be taking a while and/or not updating, click the slider beneath the picture and it will update.

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Ok, now you have 5 pages shrunk down to the size of a bookmark, but the pages are not the ones you want to use- here's where the page numbers are very handy and where the different rotations come into play.

First, pick the pages you want to rotate through. For my example, using the plain signs, I want kids to rotate through pages 59-63 (Read to Self through Work on Writing). I am going to type those pages into the "Pages" section, separated by commas:

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Change the quantity to the number of copies you want- I always make extra since these get lost in desks or around the room, so I recommend making a few more than you need. Then, click "Print" and get ready to make your second set.

For the second rotation, I simply delete the first page number (in this case, 59) and then add it to the end of the list of pages, separated by a comma:

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If you click on the above image to enlarge it, you will see my pages to print are now "60,61,62,63,59" and that "Read to Self" went from the top to the bottom of the bookmark and the rest of the choices got bumped up by one.

Now, print off the quantity needed and get ready to print Rotation #3.

For this rotation, I am going to do the exact same thing as before, but this time bring 60 to the end, so that my pages to print will read "61,62,63,59,60":

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This exact same strategy continues until you are back to the original order.

Now, all you need to do is cut each bookmark out (VERY easy to do with a paper cutter since they all have the same margins!), mount them on construction paper, and laminate them. You could also print them out onto cardstock and laminate them.

I have used this printing strategy for several other pdf's in my collection- this way kids get to see each poster in a compact, easy to use size and it makes it a breeze for me to pass them out and collect them!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and that you now have loads of bookmarks on your to-do list :)