Organized Grading

How do you keep track of all the papers that need to be graded and that have already been graded?

A few years ago when I was teaching 7th grade I found a system that works for me.

It's very simple.

I think that's what makes it so great for me.

Two file folders for each class and a sharpie to label the folders and you are all set.

I will admit that this year I seriously contemplated trying something different.

I looked at this for HOURS in Wal-Mart one night.

I even made what was probably too many snapchat stories about it.

Since I plan to use Google Classroom this year and hopefully have fewer papers to keep up with, I ultimately decided to go with my cheaper file folder system.

However, I did up my game this year and purchased some cute folders instead of the solid ones I've used in the past.

There are three different designs but I forgot to take a picture of the other two designs.

I see three different groups of students throughout the day.

And I see each of those groups twice a day - once for math and once for science.

As you can see I have a folder for each homeroom and for each subject.  When my students turn in an assignment, I paperclip the papers together and place them in the appropriate folder.

Once the papers have been graded they are moved to a new folder.

Last year I had six "graded" folders because  I kept the math an science papers separate. 

We send all graded papers home every Monday in our parent communication folders.  Because of that it doesn't really serve any purpose for me to keep them separated once they are graded.

I've just always had two folder for every class - a "two be graded" and a "graded" folder.

And that's it.

Simple.

How do you organize your papers? Leave me a comment letting me know.

Monday Made It - Organization

Well I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed with everything that is still left on my to do list.

I am quickly running out of weeks.

I need to get myself organized and prioritized.

Speaking of being organized...my Monday Made-It Projects this week are all about helping me stay organized throughout the school year.

I have two projects to share this week but one of them was probably the biggest thing on my to do list for the summer.

I am so excited to have (almost) all my task cards organized.  I still have a few that are too large for my current container.  I plan to buy a container for those the next time I'm in town.  

But here are my task cards...all organized.

Y'all this seriously makes my heart go pitter patter.

This past year they were all just thrown onto the bottom of a bookshelf.  They were constantly falling off and I could never find what I wanted.

I'm going to need another one of these containers because I have a few more categories left.

The containers are from Michaels by the way.  And be sure to them you are a teacher.  You get a discount.  (Happy Happy!)

To be honest I'm not sure how much this next project will get used next year but it has been in my classroom and has been a huge help for several years now so I couldn't not do it.

My daily paper drawers got a make over to match my new theme.

I had originally planned to replace the labels but I decided I liked the way they looked with the new color.

The reason I'm thinking they might not get used too much is because I'm going to attempt a Math Workshop style classroom and I'm just not sure these will be big enough for all my papers and stuff each day.  

But I'll give it a try. ;)

So those are my two projects for the week.

Jump on over to Tara's blog to see lots more great project ideas.

The One with Homework, a Toolbox, and Clips.

Summer Break is in full swing.

I'm not sure that it's fair to call it a break.

I've already attended three workshops and did 2.5 hours of PD online.

Of course I've also done plenty of this...

Sorry...this post has quickly gone away from the topic at hand.

Homework Bingo.

I was working on my new Bingo board for next year when I realized I have never shared it on the blog or on Instagram.

That needs to be remedied so let's get started.

Let me start with the homework part.

My students receive their math homework every Monday.

It looks like this...

Homework is due every Friday.

The homework is divided into days...the only real reason for this is to help students pace themselves throughout the week.

Any student who turns their homework in on time gets to write their name on the Bingo board.

The letters & numbers are road maps to go with my travel theme.

On Friday I draw a winning square.  Any one with their name in that square gets to scan a QR code for a prize.  If there are multiple names in the winning square, they all win.  If there are no names in the winning square, no one wins that week.  I do not draw until I have a winner.

My students loved this last year and it was a big motivator from some of those kids who wouldn't normally do their homework.

This was my teacher toolbox.

It got a little makeover this past week.

Stay tuned...it may get another makeover before school starts.  I'm not totally loving how it turned out.

I also added some spray paint and washi tape to a few binder clips.

So much cuter than the plain black.

The One Where I Make Things

I am so excited to finally be linking up with Tara for a Monday Made It.  I have a love/hate relationship with this link up.  I LOVE all the wonderful ideas that are shared, but I hate all the time I spend looking at all the ideas and then feeling the need to add to my to do list.  

I'm sure you can relate.

This summer and school year I'm keeping things pretty low key.  My husband and I are in the process of adopting and the children will be moving in soon.  My focus and time has been on the children and preparing to bring them home.

But I still like to relax and do some creating for my classroom.

One of the first things I made this summer was a binder cover for my teacher binder.  You can read about what inside my binder here.

I normally keep my PD records in this binder, but this summer I have enough good information from workshops that I needed a separated binder.  

So I made another binder cover. :)

I decided this year to buy a new toolbox and start over instead of spray painting mine again.  I also decided to laminate the labels and put them on the outside.  I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.  I'll use it awhile and see how it goes before changing it.

I used Disney paint chips from Wal-Mart to make a calendar.  This was not as easy as I had planned.  I had a hard time getting the squares lined up perfectly.  I finally called it good and moved on.

I used 5 different patterns for the month cards.

The One With the Planner

After much debate, I decided to go with a spiral bound planner instead of my binder.

I could not be happier about it!!

My love for planners runs deep and this one is by far my favorite!!

The One With the Makeover

I promise I'm not going to be a Monday only blogger all summer.  I will blog about other things and ideas.

But I do love me some Monday Made It!

This week I revamped something from last year.

This is one of my favorite things in my classroom.  I was pleasantly surprise at how much it helps me stay organized.

I have a tray for each of the five days of the week plus one for next week.

When I have made my copies for the upcoming lessons I simply binder clip them and put in the appropriate tray.

I always know where my papers are now whereas before I could never remember where I sat them.  They were constantly getting buried under other papers on my desk. 

It also makes it very easy for a sub.  There is no question about which stack of papers my lesson plans are referring to.  I simply tell my sub which tray they are in.

Anyway.  I used scrapbook stickers to add the days to each tray.  While they worked pretty well, a few letters kept falling off.

I decided to change it up and add some chevron.  My classroom this next year is going to be on chevron overload. I can't wait!

 I hadn't planned on repainting them, but they had gotten scratched up in the move.  I used regular spray paint last time.  This time I used spray paint designed for plastic surfaces.  

I love the blue!  I just printed the days of the week on scrapbook paper and taped them to the inside of each drawer.

I love them so much more now!

Be sure to check out the other great projects over at 4th Grade Frolics.

The One With Monday Made It

I've been seeing all these great post where fellow bloggers link up with 4th Grade Frolics and share some of the creations they have been making.  I love that there is such a variety of creations - it isn't limited to things for the classroom.  People share DIY projects for the home as well as recipes and a host of other things.  

Only teachers can understand the need to start creating for the upcoming school year when it is still June.  I have several different projects going on all over my house.  My sweet non teaching husband just shakes his head at me and reminds me that I have two months until I go back to school.  He says that as if it is a long time.  I see it as a very short amount of time.  

I' m not sure that I've completed any thing yet but I thought I would share the progress on the things I've been working on.  

So without further ado...

Here is the one thing that I have finished.

Since we have been living in two separate houses, we had an extra plastic container.  We kept dog food in it, but it actually made to store wrapping paper.  

I marked off a chevron design with painter's tape.  As you can tell from the picture, I didn't measure.  I just did it.  The lines aren't perfectly lined up, but that's okay. 

I then just sprayed it with blue spray paint, let it dry, and removed the tape.

I plan to store my meter sticks in it.

A few projects that I'm still working on...

I have been revamping my tool box.  I'm just changing out the labels.  I am making them chevron to match this year's theme - owls & chevron.

Speaking of owls, I've been creating lots of owls.  I plan to use these in the hallway.  I just need to laminate them and add my students' names.

Now that I'm moving down to elementary, I'm having to think about decorating projects in a whole new way.  I'm getting to do things that before were a bit childish for my students.  One of those things is a birthday display.  I found several different cute ideas on Pinterest.  In the end I decided to combine those ideas and create something with supplies that I already had at home. 

I painted a canvas, cut letters out of scrapbook paper, and attached them with spray adhesive.  The plan is to add the months to the bottom and have ribbon hanging from the bottom with the birthdays.

This picture was my inspiration.

I'm also working on creating unit lesson plans and my teacher binder.

And last but not least, I didn't make this, but boy did I spend way too long trying to decide what color folders to use. Ha!

Sorry for the poor pictures.  Iphone in poor lighting.

The One With The Toolbox

Because you haven't seen enough of the teacher toolboxes floating around out there, I thought I would share mine.

I purchased this multi color cart a few years ago because I just had to have it.

I'm sure you've all seen them.  I'd even bet several of you own one yourself.  They aren't exactly the cheapest little things, yet they seem cheaply made.  I find that too often as I am closing a drawer it comes out of the tray that holds it and it won't close.

Honestly, if you don't already have one I don't recommend you spend the money on one.  I'm glad I got mine with a coupon while it was on sale so that I didn't pay full price for it.

I'm replacing it with my teacher toolbox.  Whoever is the original creator of the teacher toolbox, a major shout out to you.  Genius idea!

Here is out mine turned out. I really love it!

I'm using it to take the place of the color cart.  And since I have a love/hate relationship with the color cart, I can't let myself get rid of it.  I'm trying to find a good use for it.  Originally I thought papers/forms for my students that we will use often, but I know they won't be able to keep the drawers in the trays so I don't know.  Any ideas?

And while I'm sharing, I scored this cork board owl @ Target this past weekend for $2.50.  I just couldn't resist.

I brought her home and gave her a quick paint job.

Happy Saturday Friends!

The One With The Parent Contact Folder

Tomorrow is the big day! School officially starts tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. I have to say that I'm really looking forward to this year.

I wanted to share with you a little organization tip that I learned from my mentor teacher my first year of teaching. It has to do with parents. I don't know about you, but I am constantly in contact with my students' parents. It happens in many different ways, anything from email to a quick conversation at the grocery store. There is no way the parents or I could remember all the conversations we've had throughout the year.

To help me remember the conversations, I keep a parent contact binder.


Each student has his or her own page in the binder. They are organized alphabetically by last name.



Whenever I have any contact with a parent, I make a quick note of it in the binder on that student's page. If it is an email, I print the email and place it in the binder behind the student's page.

This notebook has saved me a time or two.

There are many other ways to do this exact same thing, but I have found this works well for me.