Positive Friday - Week of February 13th, 2012

Wow, where do I start with this week!  I would say that one of my positives this week is also a little sad.

Today, I am finishing a month long sub job in a 3rd/4th grade class.  I had such a wonderful time with the students.  It was nice to teach children who are very much independent.  We played a lot of fun games that I got from some of my blogging buddies.  You can check out Denise from Sunny Days in Second Grade's free bump game here: Love Bug Bump and Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron's great fraction centers here: Fraction Frenzy Centers and Activities.  Dana's center games cost $7, but are well worth it!  These students showed me that it can be fun to teach older children and gave me the experience of teaching 2 grade levels in one class.  I will miss them a lot.  I look forward to my other subbing adventures until I can land myself my dream job!

The other huge positive is that I hit over 4,000 views on my blog this week!  That was nearly 1,000 views in just one week.  I am so thankful to anyone who has come and viewed my blog.  These two blog posts were the ones that really drove my views this week: Laura Candler's Paper Drop System (thanks Laura for the amazing idea that has worked so well for me!) and Saint Patrick's Day Task Cards.  Please take a look at them.

I would appreciate any comments.  Just click the reply button and tell me what you loved best about this week.  It just takes a minute and it will let everyone be able to read even more positives.

Brian :-)

Paper Drop System

Hello my wonderful fans and followers.  Today, I'd like to tell you about a fantastic idea from Laura Candler of Teaching Resources that has worked so wonderfully for me.  Do you have difficult with children putting their names on their papers?  Do you have difficulty finding a great solution on where students should turn in their work?  How about finding out quickly, which students didn't turn in their paper?  If any of those are you then I have the perfect program for you!

Laura's great idea is to take large manila envelopes and glue a cover page on them.  Then put it through the laminating machine and cut a slit on the envelope.  The next thing you do is staple a student list to the back of the envelope and put the name of the assignment on the front cover page.  Have your students put their papers in the envelope.  Sometime during the day pick a helper to go through all of the papers in the envelope and check the student's names off.  The helper can then hand back any no name papers to the students and have them put their name on it.  If anyone hasn't completed the assignment you can go speak to them privately and find out why.

I used this system in the class that I subbed for a month with.  They were 3rd and 4th graders.  I wasn't able to laminate so I used a file folder and stapled the cover sheet to it and a student check list on the back.  I had such reliable students that I simply had them check their own name off when they were done.  Then at the end of the day or activity I looked for no names and easily figured out who I was missing based on the checks!  I was also able to talk to the children who had not turned in work and was able to let their teacher know.

Click on the picture to go to Laura Candler's Teaching Resources website to get everything you need for the Paper Drop Organizational System and other great resources!  You also check out Laura's blog by clicking this link: www.corkboardconnections.com She would also love it you would become a follower of her blog!

This has been a true life saver for me.  No more no name papers and it is much easier than children putting papers in a bin and mixing it up with so many other assignments.  It has saved me a whole lot of time and the children really enjoy it!  This would work in any grade level from Elementary through High School.  Give it a try, I promise you'll love it.  A fan of my FB page told me she tried it and it works well in her classroom.  Best of all it's FREE!  Thanks Laura for sharing such an amazing idea, one of the best that I've seen on the internet!  I am an even more organized teacher because of it!

As always thanks for dropping by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!  You are the reason why my blog is such a success!

Brian :-)