Students' Paperwork Area (Summer Project #4)

I hope you've been enjoying my Summer Project series so far!  I've been looking at different areas of my classroom, photographing the "before" and analyzing what is and isn't working before diving into improvements.  We're halfway through the series already!  This week I'm focusing in on the "Kids' Paperwork Table."  This should be an easy one.

What works:

1. This space mostly works!  Once again, I'm giving you a true look at this table at its worst; the week before school got out.  And other than a few stray items and a bunched up tablecloth, it's very functional.
2. The Morning Meeting Kit has changed our mornings.  Seriously.  (Link brings you to a previous blog post).
3. The extra worksheets bin is great for kids who lose papers and need to start again.
4. The "Finished Early Tasks" system is usually introduced around January, once the kids have settled into our first round of routines and are ready for extra responsibilities because they're growing up.
5. The polka dotted table cloth from Target was the inspiration for my classroom color palette (link brings you to a previous blog post).  Well, actually the existing furniture and paint job were the inspiration for my classroom color palette; this piece just tied it all together into hues that are attractive together.  Love it; it's a keeper.  I just recently created a whole bundle of items in this color scheme available for purchase (some old favorites, some new to me this coming year). 

What I want to fix:

1.      Not much!  The job chart task strips will get an update in order to match my colors.  Adding the printing and laminating to my Back to School to Do list (free for you to download and editable).   

2.      The extra worksheets bin will get a coordinating label as well.

3.      I wish I could think of a way to make the kid's "Share Items" look like a neater display, but I'm at a loss. 

4.      The addition of student "mailboxes."  I am SO excited about this idea.  I'm not proud of it, but I'm kind of bad about handing out notices and the like.  When we get back from lunch I'm usually balancing getting the kids settled into, you know, working, or else dealing with a social issue that started at recess.  The stack goes into my "pass back bin" and I forget to get them out to the kids.  By the time I remember I think, "Now's not a good time; they're in the middle of something; I don't want the notice on their desks/I don't want to stop them and remind them to get these into their folders."  Eight years ago when I taught third grade we had mailboxes.  But they didn't hold up well and they were expensive.  A fellow blogger let me know that the do it yourself cereal box ones on Pinterest are NOT durable enough for a year.  I don' t have a great space in the room for them (I'm scared of them falling on top of someone).  So instead, I'm planning on setting up this style "mailbox" for my class (link brings you to Pinterest)!  Genius!  It can go right behind the extra worksheets bin.  I can arrange the folders into hanging folders by group.  Then early finishers can put 4 papers into each group folder, and one person from each group can get the hanging files at the end of the day for their group! 

Can it be to good to be true?  Time will tell! 

Responsive Classroom: Morning Meeting Kit

Teachers, you know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you're asked a great question?  One of those questions that isn't just on topic, but is asked for clarification.  A question that not only you can answer in depth, but you know, had it not been asked, the whole class may have been left with only a superficial understanding of what you were trying to convey, and now thanks to this question you get a second chance to make it all crystal clear for everyone?

Well I got one of those in my comment section last week, haha!  :D 

Kimberly, thank you for asking about my Morning Meeting Kit!  I mentioned it in passing last week, but thanks to you I thought, "Why not take the whole thing apart and show everyone what it actually entails?"

Before I do, first of all I should explain that the kit is really just a collection of things that I had been using for Morning Meeting that was cluttering up a nearby table.  This isn't a list I got out of a book or even planned at the beginning of the year.  Second of all, in case you're not 100% familiar with the term Morning Meeting, it's part of the Responsive Classroom method of building classroom community.  There's tons of information online, the Morning Meeting Book series is very readable and practical, and honestly explaining the whole thing would be beyond the scope of this post.  However, I will say that the four main components that my principal introduced me to right away, and that I still stick to is to have my fourth graders: 

• Do a Greeting with each other
• Share news and/or items
• Have a group Activity (nearly always a game) and finally have
• Announcements

So here are the items I use on a daily basis during Morning Meeting:

1.  The box.  I originally had all these things strewn around a table, and it was a little bit maddening how messy it looked.  Then I put it all into a tub, but even that looked like a box of junk.  In the end, I opted for vertical storage.  It works beautifully.

2.  My "Shares Sign Up Board."  I blogged about this system, but essentially I have a student roster, and each student needs to complete a task in their box in order to sign up to share in the morning.  There's a bit more to it, in that it's got a sheet protector to save paper and grade 4 common core aligned tasks to complete, but that's the crux of it.

3.  My Mystery Person envelope.  I got this idea from a teacher's forum (if I can find who to credit I will update this post).  I told the kids that two behaviors that I want them to work on is not blurting out, and being organized (specifically: quickly taking out the appropriate materials during transition times to get ready for that subject).  At the start of the day, I pick two names, but don't tell them who.  Then, throughout the day I watch those two students especially to see if they are completing the task, while reminding the class, "I see so and so is (name the desired behavior); I wonder if they are the Mystery Person!"  Everyone in the class then snaps to!  If a Mystery Person does not do what they need to do, I tell the class that for today they will remain a mystery!  However if they do, they get a round of applause/bragging rights, and they can pick out a sticker from my portfolio.

4.  Student of the Month information.  We focus on character education at my school, and we have a different trait that we strive to improve each month (such as cooperation, empathy, and responsibility).  This file folder contains a list of the traits, definitions to help me guide my discussion at the start of each month, and slips of paper for students who need a "warning" for not making good choices to improve themselves in this area.  I have this Student of the Month system available for purchase as well.

5.  Character building anchor charts (from Pinterest!) that I love, which I pull out on an as needed basis.  You can see my Pinterest collection of classroom posters here.

6 & 7.  Game materials include a white board, eraser, marker, and ball.  These come in handy for various games we play.  The bottle of water is actually out of place in this shot; it's for me for wiping off the Shares Sign Up board each week.

8.  The kids' names on sticks.  Originally I used their lunch sticks to pull for games and comments, but it started to become a hassle to use the sticks for a dual purpose on opposite sides of the room and at different times (thanks to rotating specials times).  It became more practical to have a new set right in the kit.  Also, I use these to pull names for the Mystery Person.  Then I use the lunch sticks for the rest of the day.  Because of course, if I used the lunch sticks for the Mystery Person, then I pulled Billy's lunch stick to answer a question in math, Billy knows he's not the Mystery Person today.  This way it can stay a mystery!

10.  More Student of the Month information.  The kids nominate each other every Monday for Student of the Month, so I have a roster (it's partly covered there to protect privacy) to keep track of each topic, who's been nominated for the topic, and who the eventual "winner" was.

11.  A pile of "Greetings" and a pile of "Activities."  I usually change these up each Monday, so if I feel like trying something new, or I want a specific purpose (such as cooperation) I can just flick through these for inspiration.  I did not make these; a simple Google search yielded loads of them for free, but I got the bulk of my Greetings and Games here, from Mrs. Bainbridge.

12.  Twitter Board:  Not pictured above, but I blogged about my Twitter board as a new Share system a few weeks ago.  This is so that anyone who didn't sign up, yet had big news could still have it posted, and if I feel it's big enough to talk about I do.

So that's my Morning Meeting Kit!  Just a bunch of stuff that I found myself scrambling for each morning that I finally put altogether.  I love it because now I'm starting out each morning super organized, and I think the kids have noticed that too.  Thanks again for your question, Kimberly, and I wish you loads of luck with your first classroom!