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Leap Day Sale!



Don't miss out on this sale! You can get up to 28% off on all TPT stores! Here's how it works: Many teachers are throwing their own sale on Wednesday February 29th, but if you use the code L2P9Y at check out you get an extra 10% off your purchases, which adds up to big savings! This is the time to get those products that you've been wanting! I'll be having a 15% off everything in my store and then you can use the code on top of that!  Click here to go to my store!

Organizing Student Papers!

  


I recently did a post on how I keep my papers in order in my classroom. If you missed it check it out here! I use a very similar method to organize my students papers as well. I use another milk crate and 25 hanging files numbered 1-25. I only have 25 because my class size has never exceeded 25. If you have more, then add more hanging files. :-)

Here's how it works: At the beginning of the year I give every child a number. This number is used for several things including their cubby number and book number. This number is also used in helping sort their papers. Along with writing their name on their paper they also write their number. I put all graded papers into a drawer and then sort the papers into the correlating file number. For example, all of #1's papers go into the hanging file with a 1 attached to it. Once a week I send a packet of papers home in their take home folder. I staple all papers in the same file together with a cover letter that informs parents of that weeks important information. Parents are to sign the packet and send all the attached papers back to school. I keep all signed packets until that grading period is over and then I send them home again to be kept at home. This does several things for me: 1) it keeps all student papers organized and ready to send home every week. 2) it allows parents to see their child's work and by signing it and sending it back I can know that they have seen the packet. 3) By holding on to all work until after the grading period I can pull any work if I ever need a work sample for a child.

My first year teaching I tried to file all of their papers myself, but was never able to keep up! That's why when the school system started an emphasis on having students take ownership of their classrooms and school by having "jobs" I had one of my jobs be the paper filer. That week one/two students file papers for me. I do talk to the students about not telling other students the grades they see, and I have never had a problem with it. I hope to post soon about how I set up the "jobs" in my classroom!

Maybe you can use this in your classroom! Do you have another method of sorting the students papers? If so I'd love to hear about it!

Organizing Your Papers!


Planning ahead and staying organized is what I consider a somewhat difficult task in the classroom. I found when I first started teaching that I would print my papers off for the next couple of weeks, but have no where to put them except in a large pile. Then, when it was time to teach the lesson I was frantically searching for my papers, which wasted precious teaching time. There needed to be a change and here was my solution.  I got a black milk crate from wal-mart and some hanging file folders. I labeled my file folders from 1-31and put them in my crate. Now the easy part. As I print off things that I need for my lessons they now go into my crate instead of a large paper file. I sort them by date and when it is that day all of my papers are in one place and all I need to do is pull them out. I also keep an extra file in the back for extra time activities. They don't get used very often, but you never know when you might need them. It makes life very simple, it keeps my room organized, and it keeps me from constantly trying to figure out where I put my papers. This is also great for if you wake up one morning to you being sick or your child. You have everything for that day in one folder already and you have extra activities on hand and you aren't trying to search for something. 

New Products & Free Stuff!

Here are the newest items in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I will be throwing a sale Sunday - Tuesday in honor of Valentine's Day! I hope you feel the love! :-)

In our class we just finished learning about 3-D shapes and practicing finding the edges, faces, & vertices of those shapes. The students had lots of fun doing a scavenger hunt around the school looking for shapes in the real world! The scavenger hunt page is included in the Solids Printables Pack. Also included are 2 matching games. One that matches the solid shape with it's name and the other matches the solid shape with the amount of faces, edges, and vertices it has... Check it out here.


You can get just the matching game  here. 

We also recently worked on finding area and perimeter and one way we practiced is by playing Area War! You can find it here! Your students will love practicing Area with their friends in this game.



And now for the Free Item of the Week! This one comes from Fern Smith who has fantastic products to offer in her Teachers Pay Teachers Store page. This is a super cute Valentine's Day Math Center idea! Check it out here! 





Bulletin Board Idea- Fish & Fish Bowls

This year our school theme was oceans. We could choose anything to do with the ocean including the beach or under the sea. I decided to go with a NEMO theme from disney, because I really thought my 4th graders could get into it. We use our theme specifically for Accelerated Reader and I have a bulletin board in the front of my room that I use as an AR motivator. The board changes yearly with the different themes. So this year with the NEMO theme I found these cute fish and fish bowls, which goes with the story line of NEMO being put into a fish tank. On the fish bowls are the point clubs and on the fish are the names of my students. The student's fish moves fish bowls depending on what point club they are in. My students LOVE getting to move their fish and they sure do let me know the second that they have enough points to do so! I think it's a great visual reminder and it helps motivate the students because they want to beat their friends.

Super Bowl Sunday Half-Off Sale!

Well it's that time of year again! It's Super Bowl Sunday! I don't know about you, but my favorite part of the super bowl is the awesome commercials and the snack foods! For today only I am putting two of my products on sale for half off! Pretty awesome deal! Have a great Super Bowl!


Decimal War 




Moon Phases Printable

New Products & Free Stuff!

Here is this weeks new products and free item! Hope you enjoy!

Decimal War
If you ever played war with a deck of cards then you know the game. This is the same game concept except you are trying to find the biggest decimal! The game has places to the tenths, hundredths, & thousandths. Would be very easy to turn into a folder game.
Click here to view Decimal War




Comparing Numbers War (100-1,000)
Again the same war concept except you are trying to find the biggest whole number. Covers numbers 100-1,000.
Check it out here! 






OR if you are have younger students and 100- 1,000 is too hard try the 1-50 Game here!


And the featured Free Product of the day comes from Brooke Beverly. She has made a super cute graph book for students to work on with candy!
Check it out here!