Wednesday Folders

I am SO excited about our new Wednesday folders and how much time they have been saving me!!

Before our Wednesday Folders:

-I would grade my students' tests (still do this of course :) ). For all tests that had a score of C- or lower, I would staple a piece of paper that asked the parent to sign that they saw the test and to have the student return the slip of paper to me the following day.

- Then I would make a list of students who would have to have their parents sign the test. At any given time, I could have several lists going, seeing that we take different tests/quizzes every week (math, spelling, etc.)

- The next day if I remembered, I would check off the students who returned their tests, and then remind the rest of the students one-on-one that they still needed to bring in a signed test.

This process repeated itself until

a. All the tests were returned with signatures or

b. A week (or two) passed with no sign of the test, and by that point I had moved on.

Needless to say, not the most effective process, or best use of my time!

Enter our Wednesday Folders!

The 5th grade teacher at my school is super organized and everything in her room seems to always be in its place. When I asked her about what she does about sending home students' tests, she told me about her Wednesday folders and I knew that this was something I needed to start in my class as well! Wednesdays are the days that our school's family envelopes go home, and it also gives me time to grade our Friday spelling tests and math quizzes. 

I bought the plastic folders when they were on sale, and I'm hoping they hold up better than the paper ones. Then I labeled each folder with the students' name and number. All graded tests that have been graded for the week go in the folder to go home and be signed by parents. When students return their folders it is easy to check and make sure that all the tests that went home in the folder are returned.

Each student also has a file folder (I used numbers on these instead of names so I don't have to change them every year) which I put their tests in after they come back signed. 

Then I put the folders in order in the front of the crate. My new number sorter is AMAZING and is keeping everything in number order so it's easy to enter grades into my grade book and then put their tests in their folders!

We've been using this for a couple weeks, and I have really been loving this new procedure! This way I  know that parents are seeing students' tests and I feel like the whole process is much more organized and time consuming!

Thanks SO much Jane for sharing your wonderful organization ideas with me!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

What I'm Lovin'!

I came home today to a big package in the mail!
Of course, getting mail always puts me in a good mood, so I'd thought I'd link up with Megan from I Teach. What's Your Super Power? for her very 1st linky party!


Have you seen these before? Charlie, one of my favorite teachers EVER always talked about putting things in number order, and how it made life so much easier. I hadn't seen anything like this in a long time, but then my amazing friend Amanda showed me one she got for her classroom and I knew I had to order one for myself! Oh my goodness, this is going to make life so much easier! I am going to have kids turn in their tests in number order using this sorter, and am thinking about having them turn in their homework using it as well. I love the pretty blue color and it is plastic, which is nice because it should last pretty long!

I also signed up for a website recently called Very Jane and they have the cutest things ever! They have new deals that they offer everyday, and look what popped up tonight:

Aren't these the cutest letter and number magnets you have ever seen? I ordered 2 sets of each... I figured I can use the letters for word work with our Daily 5 and the numbers I plan on using for our Daily Math board! I can't wait to get them in the mail!!

There is a limited quantity and time is ticking, so if you want a set you'll have to hurry! Oh and I forgot to mention, they are just $4.99 per set! Made my night!!

Also this weekend The Yellow Book Road had author Diane Lang stop by to read (and sign copies of) her new book:

Vulture Verses: Love Poems for the Unloved

This is one of the most creative ideas for a book! The book has "love poem" letters written to different "unloved" creatures, such as vultures, mosquitos, bats, spiders, etc. It mentions the benefits of each of the creatures, and the illustrations are beautiful! I can't wait to share this with my class when we do poetry!

Also, look at this cute postcard she passed out to promote her book. I am not a spider-lover, but this is adorable!

And last but not least, while I was at the bookstore this weekend I picked up this book:

Wonder

It's a really great book about a boy with a facial deformity who is going to school (5th grade) for the first time after being homeschool his whole life. The story is told from several points of view (his, his sister's, his classmates', etc.). This is a great book to used when teaching students about character and empathy, as well as standing up to bullies. I have already read half of it and I can't wait to finish it this week!

Wow, there are lots of things that I am loving today!
Stop by Megan's blog if you get a chance to link up!

Southern California Blogger Meet-up!!

I am SO excited that in a couple of weeks some of the most fabulous Southern California teacher bloggers are going to be all together in one place!! We are going to be having a meet-up in Orange County, organized by the amazing Hadar from Miss Kindergarten!

If you are able to attend, just fill out this form so that Hadar can keep you updated!

Hope to see you there!!

Homework Club & a Freebie!

This weekend has gone by way to quickly! I wanted to share with you something that I started using halfway through last year, and it worked so well that I am using it again this year!

It's our Homework Club!

Basically, how it works is at the beginning of every month, everyone starts off in the homework club. If they turn all their homework in on time, then they get to stay in the club! If they don't then they are out of the club. Students who turn all their homework in for the entire month get to come to our monthly homework club lunch. I pick a Friday (since that's one of the days I don't have duty!) and we eat in the classroom, turn up the music, and eat, talk, and laugh until it is time for them to go out and play! They love it! I even let them eat up on the front carpet, as long as they are careful not to spill anything and clean up their mess! At the end of the month, everyone's pictures go back up on our homework club board, and it begins again!

There is another special part to our homework club, and that is the "yearly" homework club. That is for the people who turn their homework in on time every day for the entire year! At the end of the year, I throw a pizza and movie party in the classroom for those students. We have it during the lunch/recess block, and last year we had a great time!

Last year I had two rectangular pans that I spray painted, one for the monthly homework club, and one for the yearly homework club. This year I decided to combine them onto one bigger circle pan. I am going to make a little something to attach to the pictures of my students who are in the yearly homework club this year instead of having a whole separate board. This way it will take up less space!  I'll make sure to take another picture after I finish those!

The magnetic turquoise/circle-designed container to the left of our homework club is what the students put their picture in when they are out of the homework club. I got it at The Container Store last year, and it is the perfect size! 

I have had a lot of success with students turning in homework using the homework club, and I am excited to be using it again this year!

Also, I have had several people ask about the bag tags that I posted about earlier, so here they are for you to download and make for your class! Just click on the picture for your free download!

Enjoy!

Types of Sentences and Currently!

I love having Mondays off, because the rest of the week seems to go by so quickly! I can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday! Also, I feel like my students are really getting a hang of our routines and procedures, which is always exciting! We start out our grammar unit by talking about types of sentences and punctuation marks, and of course, Pinterest has tons of wonderful ideas to go along with it! I saw this pin which fit perfectly with what we were doing and was super easy to do with my kiddos! We had already discussed the different types and done some practice with them, so this was more of a fun review to check for understanding and challenge them to think creatively!

I had the (empty) chart up on the board, and each student got 4 different colored post-it notes. I wrote down which color corresponded to which type of sentence on the board for them to refer to. Then they worked with their team to come up with unique examples of each type of sentence. I loved what they came up with!

Also, since it is September (already?!) I am linking up with Farley for her September Currently!

Favorite things:

1. Our school was one of the several schools in our area who were provided iPads for each of the teachers this year and I have been loving having it in my classroom! I'm finding so many wonderful apps and ways to use it, and will hopefully be sharing some of what I'm doing with it with you all sometime soon!

2. And because I couldn't resist, here is a picture of my amazing pink running shoes (well, workout shoes... not a huge fan of just running) that my husband bought for me! OBSESSED!!!

3. Sour Patch Kids - I have these tucked away in my classroom for when I need a sweet treat!

I'm so LUCKY to have you in my class!

Hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend! Just wanted to share a little treat I made for my students at the end of our first week of school!

I saw this pin a while ago and loved the idea! However, I couldn't find the original source of the pin! So after tons of searching without luck, I decided to make my own! I found another site with a similar idea, which I also used as a source of inspiration.

This is what I came up with:

This was such a simple, sweet gift for my students, and they absolutely loved it! One of them even asked if they could eat it plain or if they had to add milk! :)

I am linking up with Tara for the now once a month Monday Made It!

Have a great week!