Weekly Book Reports

One successful activity I started a few years ago was a weekly book report. Each Tuesday students were assigned a new book report to be completed by the following Tuesday. I chose Tuesday as this was the day we went as a class to the media center. I had many reasons for giving this assignment. I wanted students to interact more with the independent reading they were doing. I wanted to hear about what was being read. I wanted an independent assignment that students could practice time management and organization.

 

I only set aside time to explain the assignment, usually right before we left for the media center. Students were not to take the assignment home, as I did not want parent involvement. I also did not accept them late. I would remind students for the first couple of weeks to work on it during independent times. I posted a sample on the board illustrating what was expected along with the due date and extra copies.

 

My requirements were the same every week. To receive full credit on the assignment, students were given the following criteria:

• Correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling of the title and author information.
• Correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling of "known" words used in sentences.
• Paper should be relatively free of unnecessary wrinkles and creases.
• Some color must be added to the graphic but the content should still be able to be read. (This was important, as I wanted students to take pride in making a finished product. Even if all they colored were the eyes on the animal graphic, they received credit, as some students do not enjoy coloring.)
• Content​. Student responses should be on level, make sense and be aligned to the assignment objective.

I had great success with these. I spent a lot of time on my sample and would show students how I cared about the assignment. After a few weeks, I would only had to remind them on Tuesday that if it were not done, they had until the end of the day to turn it in. My students were independent with the assignment before too long and I saw tremendous growth in their writing skills.

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Book Report

Monster Multiplication Management

Providing students a foundation to memorize multiplication facts can be challenging. It seems some students learn them easy where others need constant help. I find the more things I put in their hands, have them touch, see, read, recite and do, the stronger the quick recall becomes. I have made a multiplication lapbook that can be used as a reference and management system. Students can track which facts they have mastered, review key vocabulary and keep papers together. They can refer to the chart or flash cards that can be stored if they are stuck on a fact. Check out these pictures below.

Front Lap Book

Inside Lap Book

Back Lap Book

I have also made some practice worksheets available which are included with the lapbook in my Multiplication Management Kit available at Teachers Pay Teachers. Click here to purchase.

Science Fair Management

Getting elementary students to independently participate in a science fair project can be a daunting task. I have found that for my students to be able to independently complete a project, they must have a clear grasp of what is expected of them and clear guidelines to help them along the way. In addition to small group and whole group experiments, I developed a management system that has worked for years. I start with breaking the project down into smaller tasks and require them to work on it every week. This prevents that last minute rush of getting it done the weekend before. I give my students a timeline of when assignments are due and I have something due every week. I color code the forms, staple them in reverse order of use to the timeline sheet and students have an easier time remembering what is due this way. I have put together a science fair booklet that includes an experiment from the beginning to end, showing all the parts explained. There is a slide show that goes along with the booklet so you can review with the students the entire process. I also have included a tracking sheet for grading as well as a form that can be used for judging or grading. I have found giving the students due dates of individual parts has really helped them stay on track. I have been able to conference with my students each week with their log book and guide them along. I know which students are getting help and which are not. Even though the students are allowed to seek parental guidance, some do not have the same guidance available. This has been so successful in my third grade class that my principal had all the teachers in grades three through five use the booklet, timeline and forms. I have put everything together in a pack for sale at 
Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Click here to purchase Science Fair Management Kit!

Science Fair Management

Science Fair Handbook

More Calendars!

I love calendars for organization! I plan in terms of full school weeks and months. I have pretty much a calendar for everything! One of the tasks that I always struggled with was attendance. I was fine with
writing down who was absent and letting the office know but recording it in those little boxes for some reason every day was just difficult for me. Well, since I used a calendar to track everything else, I used one for attendance and behavior. I then only had to write down who was absent on the calendar. I also wrote down the behavior violators for the day. I could turn the calendar page over and document why the student was absent and behavior violations. I could then update the book on my planning and cross off the students name once that was done. This was a saver for me. It fit my teaching personality much better. I no longer stressed over tracking attendance. These calendars are full week calendars and only have Monday through Friday.

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Weekday Calendars