• Home
  • Shop
    • Shop Now
    • Cart
    • Purchase Orders
    • School Licenses
    • My Account
  • Blog
    • Academics
      • Adapted Books
      • Comprehension
      • Cooking
      • Crafts
      • ELA
      • Fine Motor
      • Life Skills
      • Math
      • Occupational Therapy
      • Science
      • Sensory Bins
      • Social Emotional Learning
      • Social Skills
      • Social Studies
      • Speech Therapy
      • Task Boxes
      • Vocabulary
      • Writing
    • At Home Learning
      • Digital
      • Remote Learning
    • Behavior
      • ABA
      • Communication
        • AAC
      • Data
      • Schedules
      • Visuals
    • Simple Classroom
      • Back to School
      • Book Recommendations
      • Classroom Setup
      • Freebies
      • IEP
      • Inclusion
      • Inspiration
      • Organization
      • Paraprofessional
      • Remote Learning
      • Seasonal
        • Fall
        • Winter
        • Spring
        • Summer
    • Tot School
  • Classroom Tours
    • Self-Contained
    • Speech
    • Preschool
    • K-2
    • K-2 (Socially Distanced)
    • K-4 (Tiny Room)
    • 1-4 (Life Skills)
    • 2-3 (ABA)
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • High School (Life Skills)
    • Multiple Disabilities
  • New Teachers
    • Join My Online Course
    • First Year
    • Interviews
    • Job Search
  • Grade Level
    • Preschool
    • Primary
    • Elementary
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Simple Self-Contained Setup 101®
    • Join Now!
    • Success Stories
    • Log In
  • Simply Free Library
    • Sign Up
    • Log In
  • More…
    • Meet Alyssa
    • Meet Our Bloggers
    • Collaborate
    • Contact Me
    • Disclosures
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Simply Special Ed

Resource Downloads & Teaching Advice

Back to School Blog Simple Classroom

Everything You Need to Know About Lamination

If you read my velcro tips and tricks post, then you’ll love this one. Every day my inbox gets filled up with the same questions all about lamination- so today I’m publicly sharing all things lamination! (and NO… my favorite is NOT scotch…!) Read on to find out everything you need to know about lamination.

((This blog post contains affiliate links for your convenience. You don’t pay any more by clicking my link (and I actually find the best prices for you!) but I make a small commission off of sales. This helps me to test out more materials and bring you more quality content. Thanks for supporting my little blog!))

WHAT LAMINATOR DO YOU HAVE?

True story… I have 3. and I had another one that was a huge NO NO from me that landed in the trash. My favorite personal laminator is the scotch. My favorite large laminator (this can do file folders) is this one. DO NOT GET THE AMAZON ONE…. it’s the slowest laminator possible.

I prefer to use the large laminator even for smaller lamination sheets, it’s the best quality and the fastest.

This is the laminator that can do file folders.

WHAT LAMINATION DO YOU SUGGEST?

Nope, it’s not scotch. I have tried literally every brand out there. I prefer thick and SOLID lamination. I LOVE the amazon basics brand lamination… and that is what I always suggest.

Amazon basics doesn’t carry lamination big enough for file folders yet. So I buy this one or this one… whichever is on sale usually!

CUT FIRST OR AFTER?

Ah, one of the biggest debates ever. I DO NOT cut twice… that is for sure. If you use the laminators and lamination I suggest …. you will not see peeling. Save time by only cutting once! I promise you it will be okay. I laminate all of my pages, cut, then add velcro.

These are the scissors I suggest for both lamination and velcro! Just label the velcro scissors so they don’t get sticky.

What if I DO want to cut first, because my laminator isn’t super hot?

If you do prefer to cut first and don’t want to invest in a new laminator so you don’t have to… you NEED to use a glue stick to attach small pieces to the sheets before running them through the laminator. This is the only way to prevent overlap of pieces!

DO YOU CUT BEFORE OR AFTER VELCRO?

It is most definitely quicker to flip over a full sheet and attach velcro to the squares before you cut! Read more tips about velcro here!

I hope these tips were helpful to you! My favorite is that I DO NOT LIKE SCOTCH SHEETS!

You can find all of my prep favorites links below, these are affiliate links!

Share
Pin


« Everything You Need to Know About Velcro
Build an Entire Independent Work Center for FREE! »

Comments

  1. Joye says

    March 1, 2020 at 2:08 pm

    When laminating file folders they sometimes wrinkle. How can I prevent this? Not sure how to use the carrier that came with the laminating sheets. Any pointers will help!

    • simplyspecialed says

      October 21, 2020 at 2:24 pm

      Hi Joye, you can find my tips for laminating here: https://www.simplyspecialed.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-lamination/
      I would suggest the menu sized sheets and the scotch extra large laminator. I have never have has issues with wrinkling.
      Hope this helps!
      Alyssa

Hi amazing teachers!
I'm Alyssa Shanahan -- a former Elementary Special Ed & Life Skills teacher. My classroom focus was always to keep things simple, increase communication, and build independence. Simply Special Ed's goal is to help teachers and students reach their full potential in and out of the classroom!

Sign up to receive exclusive tips,
free resources, and more!

Recent Posts

5 Ways to Store Visual Pieces

4 Visual Crafts for September

4 Visual Crafts for August

4 Visual Crafts for July

11 Back to School Hacks for Special Education Teachers

Hacks for the Special Ed Classroom

Copyright © Simply Special Ed 2022 · Design by Fancy Girl Design Studio

Copyright © 2022 · Simply Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in