Week's Worth of Work

Passing out papers can easily become overwhelming for a teacher and lack any meaning for the students. Plus who knows if the papers even make it home!! I never liked those conversations with parents about those "lost" papers, so for the past 7 years, I've established a routine that's easy to follow. I call this "Week's Worth of Work."  The title comes from an amazing teacher I studied under during my undergrad, Mrs. D!

The first thing I do is make a folder for each student. This is a 9 x 12 folder with a cute piece of paper  laminated (this way they last the entire year). My fourth graders have been pretty good with them.  These are ready for the first Monday - the day I have the students pass out the papers.  I've chosen Monday's because it usually gives me the weekend to catch up and on Friday, the papers get lost in the shuffle at home with the weekend. Here's what the folder looks like:



Cover Sheets

Then the students pass out all the papers from the previous week. Yes, the students. It takes about 20 /30 minutes at the beginning of the year and by the end 10/15 minutes. They get so good at it and here's the BEST part -  THEY LOOK FORWARD TO IT!

The most important part, is the reflection time and sheet. After all the papers are passed out, I have the students reflect using this reflection form.

 At the beginning of the year we review/brainstorm the possible learning targets from the previous week, and those are the targets they use. Sometimes the kids go back to a target we worked on in small groups or during a 1:1 time.   After they're done reflecting, I staple the sheet to their work, and they put them in their mailboxes. They return the reflection sheet the next day. Love it.   Get your sheets here and here.

I'm working on some new cover sheets - what would you like?

Now, as I transition from 4th to 1st, I could use some ideas on how to pass out papers to my firsties. Any ideas or suggestions? What's worked for you?