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

What's Working Wednesday- Sound Check

Look at me blogging twice in a week! Fall break is a wonderful thing friends. A WONDERFUL thing. So I decided what better way to come back than to share something with everyone that has been working wonderfully in my classroom this year. And it is something very simple.....

Sound Check!

If you look closely you can see the NOISE letters and the sound check chart. I tried getting a zoomed in version but it was REALLY blurry... and since I am not at work, this is the best I got for now. The concept is very simple. On the sound check chart I have- no voice, whisper voice (this is for when they are working in partners in my room), group voice (for when they are working in groups), and teacher voice (for when they are presenting). I have a glittery clothespin that I clip to the level I want them at. That is step 1. The NOISE letters are where the kids are held accountable. If it gets too loud, I simply remove a letter starting with the E. Usually someone will notice me walking to the board and removing the letter and they say "shhh lower your voices she is taking a letter!". One letter is USUALLY all it takes. Of course, last week it took two letters, but we have yet to get to three. And let me tell you why... as soon as I remove the E, S, and I all that is left is the word NO... that means the class is immediately on silent..no more group work, no more partners, no more noise. And NO ONE wants to have to work alone when they are doing something fun with their groups. (We do a LOT of group work in my room.) After sharing that I made this over the summer, a few people asked me if I would list it in my TpT store...so I did. If you want to grab it, you can find it here. 

What is one thing you are doing that is working in your classroom? Feel free to add your ideas to the comments section or even a blog post link if you have one. I haven't made this a linky again but I will if enough people show interest. Otherwise I will just keep it to comments. 

For Fun- I will randomly select one person who comments to win my sound check and noise control chart. You have until Saturday!

The Backlot Tour of Graded Papers

Today I want to share with you what I do with all my graded papers. To see how I collect papers, stop over to Pamela's blog where I guest blogged about this very thing (I forgot to post about it because it was chaotic last week).

Tara over at Fourth Grade Frolics posted about her paper organization and it got me thinking, I think (in my world) I have a pretty good method so why not share it? So, with that,  I am linking up with Elizabeth and Kristen for their Organization linky.

Ok so now that you have left and read Pamela's blog and probably a bunch of organizational tips, here is what happens AFTER the papers all get turned in. Let's call it the "Backlot Tour of Graded Papers" (you got my Disney reference there right??)

Once the papers are turned in, I do NOT touch them until I am ready to grade them. I do not need to overfill my teaching bag with papers that I might not touch for days. I try to do a stack or two during the work day and MAYBE one at night, depending on how far behind I am. (Tip: If you have to take classroom restroom breaks, bring papers to grade with you. Amazing how many you can get done while waiting at the bathroom. I only bring easy to grade papers though- spelling tests, multiple choice, matching- nothing that really needs an answer key... too much to hold.)

Once a stack of papers is graded and put in number order (you will see the importance of this in a minute) I take them over to my super snazzy "mailboxes"

Yep you are looking at that right. I use a shoe organizer for my mailboxes. I am cheap frugal and refuse to spend tons of money on class mailboxes. This was $20 and has been holding up just fine. 5 years and no issues other than it being dusty. Each box has a number and I simply take my stack of papers and stick them in the slots. By the 2nd week of school I know every child's number so I can easily tell if someone hasn't turned a paper in and I just skip their box. 

On Wednesdays we send home "Wednesday Folders" (original right?) which include graded papers for the week, important papers from the office, etc. Depending on my support schedule, either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday during a break or lunch, I go over to the mailboxes, grab the stack of papers from each child's box and staple them together, then put them in their Wednesday folder. 

Where are their Wednesday folders until this point? In their mailboxes of course! On Thursday, when students return their folders (with signed papers- more on that in a minute), I empty them out and put their folders right in their box. This way I can easily see who has not returned their folder. 

Ok back to my routine- then throughout the day we will get things that need to be sent home. Depending on how much there is and how much time I do or don't have, sometimes I simply pass out the folders to the kids and then one sheet at a time and tell them which pocket to put the papers in (return to school or keep at home). 

Because I want to cover myself in any possible grade discrepancies, the parents must sign a form and send all graded papers back to me. I know I know- that is a lot of paper to save. Yes it is. But it is better to have it and be covered should you need it than to be at a loss (or even to have it if you have an IEP meeting on a child). 

So kids get this form signed 

and bring it and their papers back. It is very simple for me to check now. Kids throw their folders on my table in the morning on Thursday and during announcements I put them in number order and start emptying them. Papers for the office in one pile, graded papers in another. (This slip just stays in their folder at all times). (Notice is says # of pages- yes I have had kids pull out the bad grades and hide them- this helps prevent that.) I put the folders back in the mailboxes and then file away their graded papers. 

Last year I used hanging file folders in a filing cabinet, but I have to admit, I really like Tara's crate a lot better. I may have to do that this year. If I run out of time (I really try to get this all done by the time breakfast, announcements, and morning work are over) and can't file papers, I stack them in a pile and try to get to it later. Sometimes, I don't. And when the pile gets too large for me to handle, I let some of my helpers take the papers and organize them by student. They simply make a pile for each student and put them in number order for me. Then I just file them quickly. At the end of the semester, once report cards are home, signed, and returned (yes those have to be returned too) I send home ALL graded papers, making room for the next semester's work. The ONLY time I don't is if I think I will need to refer a child. I keep all of their work.

The key to all of this is keeping everything in number order. Graded papers so that you can quickly throw them in the mail boxes. Wednesday folders on collection day so that 1. you can quickly throw them in mailboxes and 2. Graded papers are in order for you to quickly file. 

If you have any questions, let me know! This system has been working great for the past 5 years (well really 4 I suppose...my first year I would bring home tons of papers to organize). 

Mystery Present- Freebie included!

In October, my friend Lisa over at Fourth and Ten posted about the amazing Pumpkin Present idea that she found on Rachelle's blog. Basically- you take an empty and festive container and put a mystery prize in it. These prizes could be anything- homework passes, pencils, erasers, stickers, candy, etc. You look for the students who are working exceptionally well and place the bucket on their desk. The student who has the bucket can not touch or play with it. You randomly move the bucket around the class to different students' desks based on their behavior. Whoever has the bucket at the end of the day gets the prize that is in the bucket.

At the same time that Lisa shared the idea, she also shared some tickets to put IN the pumpkin present. I decided to download those tickets and give it a whirl. The kids loved it. Loved it so much in fact that when November came they wondered what I was going to do since we no longer should be using a Halloween bucket. But November and December both came and went before I knew it. And now, here we are at February and my kids are STILL wondering when I am going to bring back the mystery present. So what did I do? I went to my favorite place- the Target dollar spot and picked up this cute little container.

And then quickly whipped up some prize cards to put in there. Now I will admit, the students also get a piece of candy or an eraser or something tiny along with their coupon, just to add to the mystery. But you certainly don't have to do that. My students are going to be so excited when they see this little beauty sitting on my desk! (I used black tissue paper so they can't try to see what is in there.)

There are 8 different prize cards included. I tried to make them generic so that they can be used in any classroom. The only one that might be a little tricky is the "special seat" one... I have a green comfy chair they can sit in, but if you don't have a special seat, you can get a cheap seat cushion that a student could use for the day or let them use your teacher chair.

If you think this is something you want to try in your class, or if you want to use these tickets another way, feel free to grab them by clicking on the image below. It will take you to the download from my TpT store. I would love some feedback if you download them! Enjoy!

You can find lots more February Freebies over at Corkboard Connections! (Just click the image below to go right to Laura's amazing blog and post.)

This post and freebie was posted with permission by both Lisa and Rachelle. 

Computer management

I want to share a quick classroom management tip for everyone that has to do with computer rotations. I teach in a portable and only have 2 1 student computer and a lot of district mandated programs. I have been trying for the past 3 years to come up with a method that will help me manage who was supposed to be on the computer without involving too much thought, time, or interruption. I tried a chart where students put an X when they finished their session, I tried a schedule...neither of those things worked.

This summer I finally figured out what to do. I got a pocket chart from the Target dollar spot and made cards with numbers 1-25 on them. Each of my students is assigned a number at the beginning of this year and they use it for everything (but if you don't use numbers you could easily make cards with students' names on them). The cards are then placed in my pocket chart with the numbers showing (in random order). Students come in and if their number is next up, they log onto the computer, do one session, and flip their card over when they finish. It helps to see when everyone has had a chance to be on the computer for the week and I don't have to do anything to keep track. Even if we don't go in order (as you can see, we don't always), students still know to flip their card so we can take a quick glance and see if they have completed their session for the week.

You can see we went out of order this week. Whoever came in first just hopped on the computer.

Typically my students only get on this program in the morning so if someone's card is showing and they are late or not here, I move on to the next card. If students finish their work early and want to get on the computer they have to do one session first then they can get on an approved site. This chart helps me know who is able to have free time on the computers and who still needs their session for the week.