Keeping track....

   I have seen colored cups and tickets on desks for how to keep track of students who come and go.  Then I saw on a website and Pinterest that a teacher used magnets on a piece of metal.  She suggested a flat cookie sheet.  LOVED THE IDEA!!!  Students come and go all day.  I am sure it is the same in your room.  I am good at remembering the regularly scheduled places and times.  However, DIBELS testing comes and kids are in and out.  Band lessons rotate every week.  It makes me dizzy! 
   So...I drove right down to the Goodwill (love it for recyclable/reusable items).  Could not find a cookie sheet. :( Did see tv trays.  The ones I bought are smaller than the usual but I thought they were different. Stopped by ACE Hardware to buy spray paint and painters tape.

                                   (Sorry, cannot seem to get it to rotate and stay rotated!)

  Then went to work.  Sketched how I wanted the layout to look.  Taped up the parts I was not going to paint maroon and went to town on spraying.  The maroon did not cover well.  It took several coats but all the others were only one or two coats.  Waiting between coats and between colors is VERY important.  Green was dry to the touch.  However, when the paper was taped down it did not all come back off.

              

   After all four were painted, I used Sharpies to decorate, divide, and label the parts.  Since the main objective is to know where my students are located, I make various sections for them to place their magnet when leaving the room.

                                        

 

 

   The pictures no matter how I try are not coming out well.  I hope you get the idea. I plan to use the Command Velcro wall hangers to put them on my wall. My magnets and glue gun are at school which makes it hard to finish this project.  I will be using flat round glass beads used for the bottom of aquariums or vases to write their numbers.  (Each student is given a number which is used for various organizational areas in the classroom.)  Magnets will be hot glued onto the back.  I will then be able to use the glass beads year after year.  

     When I finish this and put it up, I will add an up date.  Maybe with various pictures of this year's classroom set up.  I am going with an extreme sports theme.  Any ideas?  Seen any on the internet?  Love to see what ideas are out there! 

 

 



Reuse, recycle, repurpose...lamination ends....

Hi Fabulous Five....(I have decided to give my first faithful five a name.)

Today, we were working on our story problems and I realized I should share our "invisible" sheets with the world.  Or the five that follow at least.... 

   A while back I was frustrated because I teach word problems using Singapore Math.  The best way by far because when the students follow the steps it takes the words out and replaces them with a diagram/bar usually.  Look up Singapore Model Drawing. (This link is to another site that gives a brief explanation.)  The issue is we do not use Singapore Math, we have Saxon.  Therefore, we have wonderful heavy and large textbooks for my kiddos, into which they cannot write. To be successful with Model Drawing, it is VERY helpful to be able to underline and make marks on the problem. 
   I have used slip sleeves sliced on a long side for sliding the textbook page into.  This became an issue every time it had to be moved.  Some could not put it on and off with out big ordeal.  This year I started out using transparencies.  We have several sitting around now that all rooms have projectors and document cameras.  They are nice because they are heavier and perfect size. However, students seem to have an issue keeping them where they can be found again.  I am sure you do not have the issue.  This was becoming a costly endeavor.
   One day while gathering up my laminating job, it came to me....recycle, reuse, repurpose!  There it was, a large sheet of laminating film at the end.  I cut it into thirds and WAALAAA....extra "invisible" sheets! 
    As you can see from the picture above it looks like the students are writing in their textbooks with Expo markers.  Hence, the name invisible sheets.  When used as often as they should be, they do become cloudy.  Not a problem...just go grab a new one out of the bin.  There is always extra laminating.
   Alternative uses:
       Put over printing, cursive or number writing pages to save paper, use in stead of personal white boards (this is done often when a white board is misplaced), use in an anthology to mark passages or indicate where questions popped up, tape to the desk for message center, as a window into a box to watch the chicks....

WHAT ideas can you think of to use the extra laminating film? 

Cannot wait to hear all the great ideas!

Kim