Thursday, April 10, 2014

Organizing Homework

I'm linking up with Carla from the Comprehension Connection to share a tip for collecting homework.

In my 20 years of teaching, I've tried a number of methods for collecting students' homework, but this little pocket chart changed my life.  ;)
Lakeshore Learning
As a reading specialist, I no longer have a homeroom.  However, I still share this little tip with all my teacher friends.  

This is how it worked:  

Students were assigned a specific pocket in alphabetical order.  In the morning as my first graders would arrive to class, they would empty out their folder and put their homework sheet in their pocket.

The chart was located in a spot where we gathered for our morning meeting.  As a student gave the morning calendar report, it was easy for me to glance at the pocket chart for missing homework.

I kept a class checklist in one of the extra pockets, and I simply pulled it out and marked an X for missing homework or an A for an absent student.  It took me a matter of seconds.

The Student-of-the-Day would take the papers out of the pockets (still in alphabetical order) and place them on my desk.  It made correcting the papers and returning them to the students' mailboxes so much easier.

What's your secret to making homework hassle-free?  Leave a comment here or link up with the Comprehension Connection to share your idea.  :)



5 comments:

  1. This is a great and easy idea!! love it! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. I have always sent a book home and reading log to keep track of all of our reading and communications with my Title 1 kids too. So many of them are without many books at home, so they have always enjoyed choosing from my library. I love the pocket chart idea as you can see at a quick glance who's work is missing, and if you have special notes home, each has his/her pocket for it. Thanks so much for linking up Wendy!

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  3. I began using this system this year and I LOVE IT! It's so much better than shuffling though papers or picking them up from their desks.

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  4. I love this idea...I also may have a slight obsession with pocket charts! Thanks for sharing!
    Jen

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