Sunday, March 9, 2014

Bright Idea Blog Hop- How to Manage Student Work in the Older Grades

Welcome to the Bright Idea Blog Hop! 

I am so happy to have you here! My name is Lynda. I have taught for 14 years, most of which were spent in first and second grade. The little ones are adorable and the amount of growth that occurs in just one school year is amazing. This year is my first year to teach 4th grade and am having a blast! 


With the change in grades, I have had to tweak some of my classroom procedures. One of my many learning curves has been how to collect and maintain student work. This is definitely different for me because I was use to collecting things as a class. My students are in control of their work, managing their time and turning in the assignments in an efficient way and it was my job to find what worked best for all of us. 


So here are a few tips that I can suggest that worked beautifully with my older students:

These drawers are my friend. I use two of them to collect papers from my kiddos. Now this doesn't look like much but after a little make over, these little beauties have saved me hours of work!


And the big reveal.....




TA DAH! It's magic! (Well, a little teacher magic that is!)

My students know to turn in complete assignments to these drawers according to subject. In each of  the drawer, the kids find the roster with their name which I use to help keep track of all the assignments as they are turned in to me.
               

         
I ask that they highlight two things: 
1) Their name on their paper to make sure that they put their name on their paper 
2) Highlight their name on my roster so as to make sure I SEE that they have turned in their paper.

On the roster, there is a number that represents each kiddo. I have those numbers on magnets and put their number on the board under "Missing Assignments". This also works out well with make up work when students  are absent (because they aren't there to highlight their name when the assignments are turned in.)


When the students see that their number is on the board, they go to the binder that holds their sign in sheets, and check to see which assignment is missing. I always keep extra copies of the assignments in a basket (just in case they have lost it.) Once they have completed it, they turn it into the "Missing" drawer and all is right with the world!


It has been a blast to be able to share this with you! I will be posting the labels soon so make sure to come by and snatch those up as well! I can't wait for the next blog hop.....I already have some BIG BRIGHT IDEAS waiting for you!

Next up on the blog hop is Mandy of A Special Kind of Class has a great post for 
you all about how to organize for guided reading! Just click on the button below to check it out! 



4 comments:

Erika said...

Love this idea!

Sara {Miss V's Busy Bees} said...

How many rosters do you end up printing? One for each assignment that you collect? Just curious how that works out!

Sara
Miss V's Busy Bees
ventrellasara@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing this great idea! I'm going to try this out in the fourth quarter to fine tune for next year. Would you be interested in sharing your template?

Endeavors in Education said...

Cute idea...it would definitely keep me organized!
Jen
http://endeavorsineducation.blogspot.com/

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