How to Use RHINO’s A4+ Exercise Books Effectively in the Classroom

The How-To Series: A4+ Exercise Books

Welcome to the first blog in our ‘How-To’ series, specially written to help teachers and educators get the best out of our high-quality paper stationery for schools. Each week we’ll be taking a closer look at one of our paper stationery products and offering tips, tricks and best practices for education. First up, our A4+ exercise books – the unsung stationery hero of the classroom we’re keen to share with educators everywhere.

Available in a range of paper types and rulings, including plain for art and squared for maths, our A4+ exercise books are educational standard approved, sustainably-made and always robust enough to meet the demands of the classroom. A4+ exercise books are slightly larger than A4, measuring 339 x 240mm, so what are the advantages of using this size?

The benefits of A4+ (or oversized) exercise books

Designed to make it easier for teachers to use educational worksheets and handouts, A4+ exercise books have a wealth of benefits:

• More space for work: The extra space available encourages pupils to make more use of illustrations and detailed explanations in their work. In primary school, the spacious pages allow pupils to work more freely, boosting the development of writing and drawing skills.
• Better presentation: More space enables students to present their work more neatly and legibly which ultimately boosts confidence and motivation.
• Worksheets and handouts can be easily accommodated: Educational worksheets, handouts and homework can be added to A4+ exercise books without the need to trim them to fit. This saves valuable teaching time and reduces clutter in the classroom. It also allows pupils’ hard work to be displayed to its full potential without being crammed in to fit a smaller exercise book.
• Versatility: A4+ exercise books are available in a range of paper types to support various subjects and activities.
• Reduced waste: Being able to easily support various teaching materials including worksheets, A4+ exercise books minimise the use of loose sheets of paper which can be easily lost or damaged, requiring replacement.
• Robust and durable: RHINO's A4+ exercise books are crafted with quality paper from sustainable forests and feature 100% recycled manilla covers. Just like all our exercise books they come with a Lifetime Warranty – we’re so confident our products will stand up to the task that we’ll replace any item that doesn’t last under normal circumstances completely free of charge. All this means our A4+ exercise books stay in excellent condition, making coming back to revision later or keeping them as mementos simple and effortless.

Our top tips for using A4+ exercise books in the classroom

Now we’ve taken a look at the many benefits, here are some top tips from us to help you boost both learning and organisation in your classroom.

1. Don’t be afraid to get creative with learning strategies

Mixing it up is what A4+ books are made for! There’s no need to stick to the same old lesson style – you can encourage the use of diagrams, illustrations, mind maps and so much more, alongside traditional written text. In varying your lessons like this, you’ve more chance of spotting what works best for a particular class and using this to your advantage in future lessons.

2. Make lessons easier with more worksheets and handouts

No need to take time trimming or folding A4 worksheets to fit means you can make much more use of these important educational resources within your lesson time. They also make planning and organising lessons much easier too! Each worksheet or handout can be easily inserted into their A4+ exercise books to refer back to later.  

3. Give good feedback

More space for work, means more space for teacher feedback. There’s no argument that ongoing teacher feedback is vital to pupil progress, and with so much more space to play with, you have a fantastic opportunity to really tailor your feedback to each student’s needs. Taking time to explain your feedback fully and signpost to further resources where necessary could really make all the difference to their learning outcomes.

4. Show your workings

Keep everything in one place with A4+ exercise books – the aforementioned worksheets and handouts, assessments, revision cheat sheets, knowledge organisers and more, can all be kept as a record of each student’s progress, forming an important resource for revision at the end of the year. They’re great to show as evidence for Ofsted inspections and parent’s evenings too.

View RHINO's range of A4+ exercise books, here.

Order an exercise book sample pack featuring one of our A4+ exercise books along with four other popular formats, here.