A Bright Idea... to make sure no one forgets ANYTHING

I know--- you are thinking "this girl can't be serious... there is no way to make sure everyone remembers everything"... But I am here to tell you that there IS a way. There is a way to make sure your students remember what to bring home every day without having to say it 100x or write it on the board. It has only failed me once or twice because of my own chaos during dismissal.
(**Disclaimer- a coworker introduced me to this idea but I think it is too good not to share.)

I have been away from the Bright Ideas sharing the past few months because life has just been chaos and I have chosen to enjoy time with my family. I am hoping that my followers understand that sometimes a girl just needs a break. (Proof- My daughter will be 4 in June and I am currently blogging on my mommy blog about our vacation we took when she was TWO... so yeah...that.)

Anyways, back to this bright idea!

Have you ever had students forget something they needed for homework? Forget to bring home their entire folder? Forget WHAT they needed to bring home? And then at the end of the day you are repeating the same thing 500x or you are making this list on the board...

As if we don't have enough going on at the end of the day, we have to add in constant reminders of what to bring home and making lists on the board. And if you are anything like me, you very well might forget yourself!

Here is a way to make sure that does not happen.

First- every student needs a crate. You line them up against the wall. I keep mine in number order. This way I know which crate belongs to which student. What you keep in the crates is up to you. We keep all text books and notebooks in there. (Our desks have reading folders and notebooks as well as religion books and folders and writing journals because we use those almost daily.)

Throughout the day, students place things they will need to take home ON TOP OF their crate. If we finish a science lesson and they need their book for homework, I tell them to put it ON TOP of their crate. This allows me to see at a quick glance who does not have it prepared to go home.

At the end of the day, I fill out conduct sheets and check planners (these stay in desks too since we use them regularly) and tell students to grab everything off their crate and pack up. Because I check the planners and fill out conduct (which is in their homework folder), it ensures they have both of those things in their hands ready to go home. They quickly walk by their crate and grab their pile and go pack up their belongings for the day. Since my crates are in number order, I can see who forgot to grab something and a quick "hey T you forgot your math notebook" and we are on our way. (Admittedly, I HAVE forgotten to check a couple times because we were rushing to get out the door and I had a student forget something.... twice. Same kid both times. But most days when I check I don't even have to remind anyone.)

That's it. Simple right?! I couldn't believe the ease of this. My biggest fear was that the crates would become messy- with garbage, pencils, who knows what else. But as you can see, they haven't. I am really impressed!

And another benefit of this... whenever you get papers you need to pass out, you can put it ON the crate. A lot of times there will be things in my mailbox to give to students after students have already left (because I always forget to check close to the end of the day). And I know me. I KNOW I will forget to give them the papers the next day. So I simply take the papers and place one on each child's crate so they see it in the morning and put it in their folder.

Simple. Genius. I love it!

For more bright ideas, check out the link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up