Fall in Love with Teaching Blog Hop

I am so excited to be participating in the “Fall in Love With Teaching” blog hop. Today, I want to share my ideas for avoiding the paper trap. (Keep reading…there may or may not be a giveaway at the end of this post.)

Here’s how I control the choas in my classroom:

1. Top-Cubby Turn In
Every student in my room has a cubby for their bookbag. The bottom part of their cubby is for snack, lunchboxes, and clipboards. The top part of their cubby is for turning in work. I typically just have a “Reading”, “Math”, and “SS/Science” turn in bin that my students put their papers in as they finish an assignment. However… I can be super lazy and let the papers pile up and then it’s frustrating to try to match up all the different assignments from that subject and put them in number order for entering grades.

Now, as soon as my students finish an activity they put it in their “top cubby”. Later, when most are turned in, I walk around and collect them. Since my cubbies are numbered, the papers are already in ABC order and it is really easy for me to see who hasn’t turned it in.

2. The Grading Crate
Instead of having student mailboxes that I sort graded papers into, I have a grading crate. I throw all of my graded assignments in the crate and when I have time (assemblies, indoor recess, etc.) I sort the papers into the hanging file folders which are in order by student number. By this point in the year, I have my student numbers memorized so it usually doesn’t take me that long to sort. I love this because it can just go in the corner when I don’t need it and if I need to take it home to catch up, it is easy to do.

3. Unfinished/Absent Work Bins
In my classroom, I have these amazing shelves that hold paper bins. Every student has one to house their textbooks (on bottom) and their unfinished word (on top). I have noticed that unfinished work has a greater chance of actually getting done if their desk can’t eat it.  When a student is absent, I just pull out their bin, set it on their desk, and assign a desk-mate the job of making sure all of the missing student’s papers gets their name on it and into the bin.

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