Class memory book: a free template and how to print it

A class memory book is a short book every family takes home at the end of the year, with one page per child and a few pages about the year you spent together. The free way to make one: copy a simple template for each child (a self-portrait, their name, three answers about the year), add a cover, a class list and a few shared pages, then photocopy a set per family and staple or ring-bind it. You need a copier, some cardstock and about two weeks of short sessions. Use photos only with written permission.

It sits somewhere between a yearbook and a scrapbook, and it works from preschool through about third grade. If you want a book of pages for kids to color instead, see our guide to making a class coloring book. Many teachers put both in one book.

The free template, page by page

Copy this plan. Letter-size paper, portrait, a 1-inch left margin for binding.

Page	What goes on it	Who makes it
Cover	Class name, year, a group drawing or class handprint collage	The class
Class list	First names, teacher and helpers, school name only if you want	Teacher
One page per child	Self-portrait, name, three prompts (below)	Each child
"Our year" pages	Field trips, holidays, the class pet, favorite read-alouds	Teacher plus the class
"When I grow up" page	One line per child	The class
Autograph page	Space for every classmate to sign or doodle	The class, last week
Back page	A short note from the teacher	Teacher

Prompts for the child's page (pick three, and keep them the same for everyone):

• My favorite thing we did this year was...
• My favorite book was...
• I got better at...
• My best friend in class is... (skip this one if it would leave anyone out)
• When I grow up I want to be...
• I am this tall: (a line they measure against a strip of paper)

For preschoolers, the teacher or a helper writes down what each child says, word for word. Keep the child's exact words, grammar and all. For first and second graders, let them write and spell it their way.

How to collect the pages without chaos

1. Start three weeks before the last day. Consent forms and absences eat the time.
2. Do one page per session. Self-portraits one day, prompts another. Ten to fifteen minutes each.
3. Pencil first, black marker second. Thin pencil vanishes on a copier. Trace everything in marker before you copy.
4. Keep a checklist of names. Tick each child off for each page so nobody is missing a page at copy time.
5. Make the group pages as you go. After a field trip or a class celebration, have the class dictate three sentences about it while it is fresh.

Printing and binding options

School copier (cheapest). Ask the office whether you can use it for a class project. Single-sided is easier to read and color. Copy the cover on cardstock.

Home printer. Fine for a small class. Use "best" quality for drawings so the lines come out dark. Our guide to printing coloring pages at home covers settings that keep line art crisp, and the same tips apply here.

A local print or office supply shop. Most will copy, collate and spiral-bind a stack of books for you. Ask for a quote for the whole class before you commit, and ask whether they can trim and bind on the same day.

An online photo book service. Good if your book is mostly photos and you want a hardcover. Scan the children's pages at a high resolution and upload them as images. This costs more per copy, and turnaround can be a week or more, so order early.

Binding. Staples along the left edge for a thin book. A three-hole punch with binder rings or yarn for anything thicker, which also lets families add pages later. Spiral binding from a print shop lies flat and lasts.

Photos and privacy

Photos make a memory book feel finished, but they are also where you need to be careful.

• Photos are covered by student privacy law. FERPA lists a student's photograph as a type of directory information. The Department of Education explains that a photo is an education record when it is directly related to a student and maintained by the school, and that a student who is only in the background of a group shot is generally not the focus of that photo.
• Families can opt out. Schools must tell parents what counts as directory information and their right to refuse to let the school designate any or all of it. Ask the office for the opt-out list before you choose photos.
• Private preschools and daycares may be outside FERPA but have their own media policies. Either way, written permission is the fair answer.

In practice: send a short note saying which photos will go in the book and who will see it (families in the class), use first names only, keep the book off social media, and give any child without consent a drawn self-portrait page. Group shots taken from behind or at a distance are a good way to show a field trip without singling anyone out.

A paid option for one section

Some teachers want one part of the book to feel special, like a page where each child is drawn as a coloring page. You can make those for free by tracing photos (our guide to turning a photo into a coloring page for free shows how). If you would rather not trace 20 faces, our Classroom Edition is $199 for up to 24 children, each the star of a page in one class story, delivered as a PDF you can print for the class, with printed copies at $9 each in batches of 10 or more. The pages are drafted with AI illustration tools from each child's photo and a person checks every page before it goes out. Only send photos families have agreed to.

The free template above is still where I would start. Kids go back to pages that are about them, not the fanciest ones. A child's own wobbly self-portrait does that job well.

For more end of year projects, see the classrooms and groups guides, and our guide to end of year gifts for preschool students if you want to pair the book with a small gift.

Questions parents ask