Almost there!

Oh my goodness, the days are just counting down! We officially go back to work on Wednesday. I went in today and got most everything finished by around lunchtime. I was going to take pictures then, but I do have some finishing touches to do. I need to get a couple of borders, because I did not have any that suited me, so when I get them I will show you! I do have some other things to show you in the meantime that I've finished.

Ok, first is the take home binder that I am going to use this year. I have already made a mostly complete one, minus the agenda our school sells, so that I can show my parents at Open House and explain how it works.

Using my sports theme, the binder will be called a PLAY book. PLAY stands for "Preparing for Life All Year." This is the cover I made to go in the binder's front sleeve. I'll put each of my little darlin's names on the front.

Let's look at the inside!

When you first open it, you will see a label on the inside pocket. It says "Please sign and return." Obvious, yes. I will put anything I want mom or dad to sign and send back to school right up front. On the right side, the very first thing is a pencil pouch, this one just happens to be clear because they were on sale at Office Max for 50 cents a piece. The label on the pouch says "Notes and Money" It also gives a brief reminder of how money is supposed to be sent to school and that a written note is needed anytime a student is absent. I am also going to have my kids keep a pencil in this pouch, so they can never say they didn't have one for HW. (Yes... I've heard that excuse, I'm sure you have too *wink*)

Next are three sheet protectors. The first one is seen here, holding the PLAY book directions. It gives a description of pretty much what I'm writing here, only it's addressed to the parents. I am leaving NO room for excuses from parents or students about what I require done nightly or where things I send home can be found. The next sleeve is for my weekly newsletter, and the last sleeve is for my word work HW sheet. I give students options of what they can do for their spelling and vocabulary homework so A) they don't always have to do the same thing and B) it's a good way to differentiate because it plays to a lot of different learning styles. I've got the normal, write words 4 times each, to the unusual, draw a picture and "hide" your words in it. One assignment choice I used last year a few kids really liked, and that was to find the letters to each word in newspapers or magazines, cut them out, and glue them to paper to spell each word. I kept that choice of course. Anything that gets them working with words right?

OK, so in the complete thing, you would see the school agenda first, then a notebook like the one pictured above. The agenda is going to be used for: daily conduct, HW assignments, reading log, weekly sight words, quick reminders and short parent/teacher contact. Last year I had a separate page for the reading log, but I decided to include it in the agenda this year to save me time and paper. One thing that happened last year was that when a student brought me a complete sheet, it took me a couple of days to get them a new one, so that's no good.  I do participate in Pizza Hut's Book It program, and I use their reading log with it. When a student completes his or her reading log for a month, they get a free pizza coupon. The log being in the agenda will also be easier to keep track of because I can go back and reference it anytime.

Now for the spiral notebook. I haven't put the label on it yet because my printer quit... again.. this time for good I think. (I talked to HP, and my poor baby, my first teacher printer, is 6 years old) Anyway, I digress.... the notebook is for their word work HW. Lord knows I hate loose leaf paper all over the place and I hate wasting paper. So, all word work will be done in the notebook and stay in one place.  They can do more than one night on one page if there is room and not waste paper or space. I can quickly check if it's done and move on, voila! NOTE: I am going to glue a ribbon to the back of both the agenda and the word work notebook to use as a bookmark, so that my students and myself can quickly get to the page they are on.

Next you will see dividers behind the notebook. Each divider also has... a LABEL!  Can you tell I'm totally into labels this year? Ok, so the first divider is for "other homework." Math is usually a page from the student workbook and they have social studies and science projects now and then and those handouts will go here too. If I just put the math sheet in a pocket, sometimes it just mysteriously disappears... how odd. :)
The next divider is for school notes and notices. All that stuff that comes from the front office, I'm going to stick here. School newsletters, lunch notices, PTA reminders, etc. Just a side note, on the PLAY book directions I point out that parents should check out every section of the binder NIGHTLY. The last divider is for graded papers. I don't commit to sending them home weekly, though I do try. But at worst, I'm good for every two weeks on average. The graded papers label is a bit larger because I give directions on them. The directions are; look through the papers, correct papers that have a grade of C or lower, sign the cover sheet, and return it all to school the next day. Hopefully that last part will change when we get the IPads we are supposed to get, and I'll only ask for corrected papers to be sent back. There is a really cool app called Three Ring I want that will allow me to photograph student work and keep a virtual portfolio of their actual work and eliminate me having to keep up with all the ACTUAL paper. Yay technology!

Last but not least.... the back! Not wasted space...

 I duct taped a Ziploc bag to the back. It too will have a label, "Spelling Words." Every Monday, I will have my little darlins write their spelling words on flash cards (half of an index card) and stick them in the bag, so they have them to practice with all week.

So there it is! My take home binder, my kids (and me!) WILL be organized this year doggone it!

An addendum to this, my son will be too! He is going to go to the fourth grade this year and will be changing classes! (Tries not to faint) I've been imagining all summer my brilliant, highly unorganized, trashy book bag, ADHD son going from class to class and actually making it home with everything! *cringes* So.... we are going to make him a binder VERY similar to this one. I am going to label EVERYTHING and make sure he knows that he better come home with it every day complete! Hopefully, (crosses my fingers and prays real hard) this will help him stay organized and have what he needs too.

A couple more things for ya:

My hall passes this year! I found these cute sports ball luggage tags at the store on clearance for a dollar. So I scooped them right on up, brought them home and turned them into hall passes!

I finished painting my stools!!! I am still waiting on my sweetie to spray paint the legs of the other two stools, but I can't paint the tops of those. :( I have to cover them in my sports material. But here are the ones I painted, and they turned out SOOO good! We have to go get some polyurethane (spell that?) to put on top so that every little bump doesn't mess up my paint job though! I was so excited about how well they turned out!

I am almost finished with the crate chairs for my small group area too. My fella and I cut and screwed the tops together yesterday and I cut the foam for the seats. I left my handy dandy staple gun at school today ..grr.. so I have to go by in the morning and pick it up so I can upholster those bad boys. Then I'll post them for you to see and say "oo! That's cute! I wish I had time to do that!" Just like I used to say about, oh, everything! haha... ok, well maybe I have inspired you to realize you do have the time after all!

That's all for today, I have to put my blog away and my boy to bed. So see ya later world!