| Work |
Morning Work |
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The kids arrive in the morning and know exactly what
to do. They put away their things and correct sentences
off the board, complete a daily handwriting page and write
in their journals. Once the routine is in place they are
very self sufficient and it gives me time to answers notes,
prepare take home readers and grade homework. |
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Unfinished Work |
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I have two trays on my desk, one for finished work and
one for unfinished work. When time is up, students place
their paper in the appropriate tray. During our chapter
read aloud students work on their unfinished papers. Anything
that is still unfinished is taken out to recess on a clipboard. |
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| Materials |
Pencils |
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One of my biggest pet peeves is first graders and pencil
sharpeners. They break electric ones and they will spend
all day sharpening their pencils if you let them. So I
got rid of the pencil sharpener altogether. In our writing
center we have a bin full of pencils I sharpen every night
and another bin for unsharpened pencils. They trade one
for the other. I've found this has also cut down on arguing
over pencils. |
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Puzzles and Games |
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I get a lot of compliments on how neat and clean my
room is. I always say that the kids keep it that way.
I have a simple rule in my class: If you take it out and
don't pick up, I pick it up. That means that if a student
takes up a puzzle or game and doesn't put it back where
it goes, or leaves pieces out, I put it away in the cabinet
and it stays there. It usually only takes the lose of
one thing for the kids to clean up after themselves! |
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