I'm using the mantra, "Wait one more week. It can wait one more week," to keep myself from driving up to my school and messing in my classroom. I know that once I start messing, there will be no stopping me and my summer vacation will be over [sigh]. So instead, I'm focusing my OCD tendencies on this blog post to share how to organize your classroom and STAY organized, because isn't that the hardest part during the year?
1. The Endless Piles of Papers
- A place where students turn-in their papers when they finish an assignment
- A way to transport papers to grade
- A way for papers to get home to parents
A. Place for Students to Turn-In Papers
VS.
I love both of the ideas that are pictured above.
With the crate, you can easily have students flip to their file and put their paper in, and then all you have to do is take a folder and grade their papers and put them in their Take-Home Folder. With the tray-method, you can have students turn in papers for a particular subject, and then I have a student alphabetize them (we have students put their "number" in the top right corner of their paper to make this easier) before I put them in my accordion file grader.
If you have room in your classroom, you can also have students put their papers in a mailbox system. I love my mailboxes and use them for students to store their writing materials, and they can also write friendly letters to one another and place them in there.
B. Way to Transport and Grade Papers
If you have not discovered ThirtyOne yet, oh my my my, you are missing out. I love my ThirtyOne tote, and it is the perfect size for carrying papers, teacher editions, etc to and from school. If you decide to use the crate approach, you can take home a handful of files a night. If you like the tray approach, you can paper clip your papers and sort them by subject in an accordion file (middle image).
No matter how you decide to transport your papers, there is one tool that will make it easier and faster for you - an EZ Grader! I absolutely love mine and it makes it simple to grade something based on the number of items on your assessment.
C. Way for Papers to Make it Home to Parents
My school provides the students with a vinyl folder that has our school logo printed on the front. Inside, the pockets read "Keep at Home" and "Return to School." The fourth grade sends folders home on Tuesdays and the parents can expect to find graded papers, important news from the school and PTO, and a newsletter from the teacher. The folder is due back on Fridays, and parents sign a paper that is found in the back pocket of the folder to indicate that they saw the papers and leave any comments they may have.
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