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Tracking Missing/ Incomplete Work
I use the form and method here. You can read more about this on the Weekly Evaluations page (formerly called Weekly Evaluations). When students are absent, I mark their absence on the same form. I also keep a Make Up Work folder on their desk. Their partner is responsible for putting all handouts inside. Students have two school days (per county policy) to complete the work and return it in the folder.
In the years when I assigned daily (as opposed to weekly) homework, I had students fill out a missing work form when they did not do a homework assignment, then put it in with the homework assignments that the other students turned in. That way, every child turned in something and I didn't wonder if I had missed a child's paper because I saw the Missing Work form. After I marked the missing work down in my gradebook, I stuck it in the back of the box pictured below for a student to file for me at the end of the week. (Each child wrote their number on the form so the filer just placed each form behind the corresponding number in the box). Missing work forms were pulled for parent conferences and sent home quarterly for parent signature.
Click any photo to enlarge. Pictures open in the SAME window.
Passing Out Papers To Students During Lessons
If you're looking for information on how to pass out and collect student work without wasting time, check the Transition Tips page.
- Have 2 helpers do this job for an entire month. Switching jobs daily or even weekly will lengthen the amount of time it takes to pass out materials as the new helpers learn the routine. Train those two people where to get the supplies, how to circulate among the desks to make sure everyone gets what they need quickly, and how to put supplies away, and those two people can train the helpers for the following month. See the Classroom Jobs page for more about this.
- Have helpers move in a set order around the room so they don’t miss students or overlap with one another.
- When needed, have kids pass to those next to them rather than in front or behind them whenever possible. Passing across rather than up and down cuts down on how often kids are ‘accidentally’ bumped with the baskets or drop the papers because the next person can see the basket coming to them.
- Use plastic baskets from the dollar store to keep papers together while they are being passed. When students pass papers, no one will drop the pile or fail to see it waiting on their desk: they take one from the basket and pass it on. The last person to get the basket returns it to a designated place.
- Show kids at the beginning of the year where to get extra papers and put extra papers back. How often do you hear, “I didn’t get one!” or “You gave me two by mistake!”. But you’re ready to teach the lesson- you don’t have the extras for those who need them because you didn't pass them out, nor do you want to be handed those leftovers. Students should know that all extra papers are still in the baskets from when they were passed out. (Or, if you don't use baskets, have a special drawer or tray labeled Extra Classwork Papers). Students simply walk over to the designated place where the baskets are kept and take (or put back) what they need without ever making you aware of the situation. When they say they didn't get a paper, shrug and say, "I don't have them, either"- it will only take a second for them to remember where to go. I like using a deep drawer because I don't clean it out often. Again, you would be surprised how many times a child or I need a paper that was passed out weeks ago. Every few months, I'll take out the oldest papers from the bottom and let kids complete them during Power Hour (Fun Friday) if they want to- and many of them do!
Collecting Student Work
- If your kids sit in teams or tables, have one member of each table be the paper passer who is responsible for collecting all work. This way you will never have students who 'forget' to turn in their work or 'lose' it immediately after finishing it (which happens much more frequently than I ever would have imagined before I began teaching!). If your kids don't sit in groups, assign two Paper Passers in your job rotation.
- Again, consider using baskets when kids pass in their papers. This year I had a small, fairly mature class and didn't need them, but in the past, I've found that papers are far less likely to be dropped, shuffled, or lost when kids pass a basket of papers instead of a pile of papers.
- Do NOT NOT NOT make your desk the designated place to put student work! If you're like me, you pile enough stuff on your desk as it is- you don't need the kids adding to the clutter! I use the top of a low file cabinet for student work. In the past, I had a small student desk adjacent to my own where papers went. A shelf or windowsill would work just as well.
- Your helpers should come IMMEDIATELY after collection and put the papers inside in a file trays for you. This year I started using the black file trays you see the top lefthand corner of the picture above. There is one tray for each subject area. They sit on top of my file cabinet so I can reach them easily without having them cluttering my desk.
- If you don't have file trays, you can use a crate with hanging file folders. I had 3 files per subject: homework, class work, and tests, all inside a regular file box next to where the turn-in baskets were kept. The helper simply placed the stack of papers in the appropriate folder, say, Math Class Work, Math Homework, Math Tests, or in the To Be Filed folder if s/he wasn’t sure where to put them. At the end of the day, or whenever I was ready to grade papers, I pulled out any full folders and knew exactly which subject and type of assignment I was about to grade.
- Insist that students turn in papers all facing the same way, and have your helpers paperclip them. We practice this a LOT at the beginning of the year, and if (more like WHEN) they got lazy about it during the year, I made the paper passers give all the papers back to their owners and they did it again, with coaching and praise, until they got it right. Last year I started keeping a supply of paperclips by the paper collection trays so the two paper passers simply combine their piles, paperclip them, and put them in the appropriate subject area tray. You can have your paperpassers put the work in alphabetical order if you want (assign each kid a number and teach them to write the number in the top right hand corner: then the paper passers can just put the numbers in order). I don't do this because it takes too long but for some teachers, it's worth it.
Ms. Hanson, another 3rd grade teacher at my school, set two student desks up in front of hers so she could easily access the papers students handed in. There's a section for each subject area/ assignment type.
Taking the Hassle Out Of Grading
The most important step in getting out of the paper trap is eliminating that stack of papers waiting to be graded (why doesn't it ever seem to go down?). I have a LOT of advice on that: don't grade homework, give papers that have easy formats, stop making answer keys, use letter grades instead of averages... in fact, there's so much that I moved it over to the Grading page so I could use this page to focus on other paperwork issues- and there's a ton of them! Here are just a few other things about grading that I want to add on this page, where the focus is organizing papers.
- Try not to let students' ungraded work ever sit out on your desk: until you're ready to grade, leave it in the file trays where the kids turned it in. Messy piles accumulate so quickly! If you have a good filing system like the ones above, it should take less than ten seconds to find any stack of ungraded student work in your filing trays. There will also be no more confusion about what has been graded and what hasn't, what's already in the computer, etc.
- If you take papers home to grade, use an organized file folder system for transporting them. Although I never really took papers home (see the Assessment page for grading tips and the Time Savers page for ways to get grading done during school hours), I did at one point use a file folder system to keep track of papers. I had three folders for each subject (classwork, homework, and tests); other years I just had a folder for each subject. You can also keep other folders, such as the ones below. One caution: I stopped using this system because lone papers would languish in the folders for weeks, unnoticed (such as make-up work): the file trays are more visible, which I need.
-Already Graded- To Be Entered in Computer (I kept my grades electronically)
-Already in Computer- To Be Filed (I would periodically empty this folder into the filer's basket to file for students to take home of Fridays)
-To Review/Re-Do With Class (when there were a lot of errors I wanted to go over)
-Incomplete (To be stapled to weekly evaluations on Friday as weekend homework)
-Make Up Work (which I normally graded every two weeks as it was turned it after absences)
-No Names (if I was going to try to find the owners' later- most of the time those papers got zeros and were put in the trash)
Sending Papers Home With Students
I was fortunate to get ahold of one of these paper organizers from a first grade teacher. (Cardboard versions can be purchased fairly cheaply, but don't last longer than a school year, in general, so I don't recommend them. Metal and plastic ones like this can be purchased at office supply stores and educational stores).
Each child has a ‘mailbox’, and when I have papers to be passed out, I put the stack in one of two extra mailbox slots labeled ‘Mailbox Helper 1’ and ‘Mailbox Helper 2’ (often I have multiple fliers to go home so I give some fliers to one helper and different fliers to the other helper). I have kept the same mailbox helpers since I began using the mailboxes several weeks ago: it’s not part of the regular job rotation because it’s too important to have random kids doing it all the time. I just chose kids that I knew would be responsible to handle it indefinitely. At 1:40 each day, right before dismissal, the mailbox helpers automatically go check to see if there is anything in those slots and distribute them to each child’s mailbox.
I then dismiss the children one by one, according to who is ready (desk cleared, floor clean, sitting quietly, hands folded on desk). Everyone accesses the mailboxes in the same direction, walking towards the door and going around the math table and then walking away to the right so that traffic flows in a smooth line without anyone bumping into one another. Also, only one child is allowed to reach into a mailbox at a time; any others must wait patiently behind the child standing in front of the mailboxes until that child walks away. This prevents anyone from being pushed, tripped, mixing up their papers, or bumping into one another.
The extra mailbox slots have specific uses as well: There are 4 slots that say ‘Take 1 of Each’. Sometimes if I don’t have time for the mailbox helpers to distribute papers, I put one set of papers to go home in each of the ‘Take 1’ slots and when the kids check their mail, they also take one from each set in the ‘Take 1’ slots. There is also a slot that says ‘To Go Home Later’ for book orders, fliers, homework sheets, etc. that I want to send home the following day or later in the week. There is another slot for extra book order forms in case kids need to take another one. The rest of the slots say ‘Extra Papers to Go Home’ with one slot for each month. When the mailbox helpers finish passing out the papers, they put the extras in the ‘extra paper’ box for the month. Then, if someone loses a form or a parent requests another flier, I know exactly where to look for it. You would be amazed at how many times I need to reference a form I passed out months ago- it’s really helpful to have all the extra forms organized, especially when it’s not taking up any space in my filing cabinet or on my desk!
Mrs. Buckley, a kindergarten teacher at my school, uses this pocket chart to distribute papers to go home. You can purchase identical ones at educational supply stores. I have two that I got free from Highlights magazine, and I love them!
Helping Kids Keep Their Papers Organized
See the BEE Books page for information on a student organization system called BEE Books: Bring Everything Everyday, as well as the Organizing the Kids page.
Parent Correspondence
- Have kids put notes from home in an In Box when they enter in the morning. (My In Box is the blue basket in the picture of my desk above). It's a great way to keep the papers together and out of your way, keep wandering hands off of your desk, and maintain consistency for the students since they know that anything they have for you goes in the basket.
- Answer all parent notes first thing in the morning. If I wait, I forget. Plus, sometimes parents' notes concern things that happen first thing in the morning or require immediate attention. Respond while the kids do their morning work.
- If a parent note requires research or a lengthy response on your part, send home a pre-printed "I received your note' slip. (I had a copy of mine on my hard drive and my computer crashed- I'll try to make another). The note basically said 'Your child did deliver your message to me and I read it right away. However, I want to give my full time and attention to your concerns and was not able to do so during the course of the school day due to my teaching obligations. I will respond to your note after school, and you can expect a prompt reply to come home with your child tomorrow. Thanks for your understanding and patience'. Parents always wonder if their little one actually give you the letters they write, and this reassurance helps when you are unable to respond right away. You can also leave a similar note for subs to send home when you are out, explaining you were not in to respond but they can expect a reply when you return to school.
I keep a seperate set of files just for parent correspondence. This is a simple cardboard divider with one slot for each child. Anytime I exchange ANY written correspondence with a parent I slip a copy in here. For some parents, I also include copies of emails (just printed out) if I feel like I will need to reference them. For most parents, I just keep copies of parent emails online. Please see the Documentation page for more information about what correspondence to keep and why.
Collecting Forms and Money From Kids
- Have a visual reminder for the kids (and you) to track who still needs to turn forms in. Teachers have to collect field trip permissions slips, signed report cards, and a host of other forms that we distribute and that our schools require us to collect for them. I use a small white board (below) to help kids keep track of what they have and haven't given me. I write the name of the item, the date it's due, and then the students' numbers (1-20 or whatever: this is easier than writing names and protects confidentiality, since visitors to the classroom won't be able to match kids with numbers). I collect forms first thing in the morning ONLY (8:00-8:20), giving 2 verbal reminders when it's almost 8:20 ("Anyone else have book order money? Last call!"). They put the forms in my in box and sit down. At 8:20, I sort through the forms all at once and call the children up to erase their numbers off the board. The teacher next door to me, Mrs. Dreiss, does something similar with her kid's classwork assignments, having them erase their number when they turn something in. But for this system, I don't let the kids erase their numbers until I have personally checked to make sure the form is there and filled out completely and correctly. When something is overdue, I circle it in yellow and indicate that on the board. You can have a variety of consequences for past due forms: I usually do 5 minutes of recess or Fun Friday if it's something really important and more than a week overdue. I do think it's important to have some kind of consequence: kids need to get used to deadlines, including some inflexible ones.
Lesson Plan Files and Worksheets
Keeping teaching supplies, photocopies, and lesson materials organized is a big enough job to deserve a seperate page! Please see the Lesson Materials/ Copies page.
Other Incoming and Reference Papers
I HATE it when someone asks me for a paper that I just saw and then they have to stand there for five minutes watching me search fruitlessly for it. To help with that problem that never seems to go away, I have a file holder that sits on top of my desk with five slots. All papers that come across my desk (are supposed to) go in one of the five slots. I try to clean it out weekly. There are very, very few papers (from Scholastic orders to principal's notes to reminder slips) that do not fit into one of those categories, and it really helps me keep better track of my papers.
-To Read/Sort
-To Keep On Hand
-To Do
-General Filing
-Lesson Plan Filing
I recently started keeping files on hand for papers to go to the office, to other teachers, to be photocopied, and collections (book orders, field trip money, etc.).
The red pocket chart holds forms that I want to access easily without going into a file cabinet: fax cover sheets, photocopy requests, student of the week awards, etc.
To organize miscellaneous papers for the kids (conference forms, notes from parents, tardy slips, and other documentation that I don't want to throw away), I have a special file drawer. There is one file folder for each child (I label them with the children's assigned numbers rather than their names so I can re-use the folders each year). There is a file in front that says To Be Filed where I stick the papers, and a student helper files it for me weekly.
In the back, I keep book order forms arranged by month. I put a paper clip on each folder to indicate the status of that month's orders: green= still collecting orders, red=ordered and waiting for arrival, and silver=materials received and order closed.
Do you have students constantly coming and going because of special education services, guidance, intervention programs, etc.? Keep track using this fabulous form from Mrs. Carangal!
Taking Papers to the Office
I bought a plastic file folder with four sections to hold the papers that I take with me to the office. The slots are labeled for: Photocopies; PTA (kids often have to turn in various forms, money, etc. for this); Office (to give to secretaries or put in other teachers' mailboxes); and Misc. (for any other papers that need to be delivered). I also have regular file folders for papers to be laminated and hole-punched so that I can just add more papers to them and take everything at once after I have a stack.
Organizing Papers for Meetings and Committees
This is a fabulous organizer I found at Big Lots in summer 2006. There are two pockets for sticky notes and pens, as well as a large tablet of paper. There are also five folders for filing different papers. I have one for each of the meetings that I reguarlly attend (staff, grade-level team, mentoring, learning community, and misc. committees). Anytime I have to go to a meeting, I just grab my notebook and I have everything I need.
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