Cubbies

Here is another creative way to organize student work which also helps students keep track of their class materials.

This system works in a connections (elective) classroom.  It would probably work well in a standard academic classroom as well. The teacher has two of these cubby shelves, one for the morning classes and one for the afternoon. Each row is for one grade level - 6th, 7th, and 8th.

It is not perfectly clear in the picture, but if you look along the first row near the right you can see that each cubby is numbered. Within each class all students are given a number which identifies her/him throughout the 9 weeks. They will put that number on every assignment they turn in, or save in their folder. This way, if their paper gets misplaced it can easily be reshelved into their cubby.

Students are encouraged to leave their class folder in their cubby so that they do not have to remember to bring it every day. Every day on upon entering the classroom students pick up their folder, and drop them back off when they leave.

P.E. Update - 100th post!

Subbing for P.E. was, as predicted, quite different from a standard classroom yet not any more difficult. I was lucky enough to be subbing with another teacher for each class. She was very nice and really took charge of everything except for my classes' attendance. I helped keep an eye on the students and keep them organized and on task.

As this is a "connections" class (i.e., elective) the schedule is a little different. We did not have a homeroom; however, we had six classes and an hour for planning/lunch rather than the four classes with two planning periods which the core classes have. We saw 7th grade, then 6th, then 8th, had lunch and then repeated with different students. The 6th graders were actually a health class in a classroom instead of the gym.

The P.E. students were doing a P.A.C.E.R. test which counted how many times they could run across the gym in timed increments. They had to stop and wait for the bell each time they ran to ensure that they "paced" themselves. They will repeat this test throughout the nine weeks to measure their improvement. The health class students were making warning posters for either hot or cold weather safety.

By the end of the day I was quite tired as I am really not used to being on my feet all day anymore, and there was no chance to sit for a few minutes here or there in the gym. It was nice to do something new and I was able to meet new people. We actually ate lunch in the room of the teacher who I will be long-term subbing for and I was able to meet all of my future lunch mates. It's interesting the connections I make in different ways and meet new people.