Ideas That I Stole from Great Teachers.....

OK. Here is my list of fabulous ideas which I snatched from super-creative, talented teachers that I am fortunate to work with. 

First, here is Ms. Zuskin's gigantic math calendar wall.  Is this awesome or what?

Here is a cool idea that I stole from the second-grade teacher (Ms. Beeson). In our reading curriculum, we have the students respond (answer) on a sticky note.  Then there is the challenge of how they turn it in and how you are supposed to grade a pile of sticky notes!

Ms. Beeson came up with a system for this organizational dilemma.  When you have an assignment that have to be done on a sticky note, have them put it on a sticky note challenge board.  Get a posterboard and section it off.  Place sticky notes on there (in desk number order).  Then laminate it.  When the students have filled in their sticky note, they put it on the number that corresponds with their desk number.  Right away, you can see who did their assignment and grade it easier!

 The above board is Ms. Owen's neat board (before kids put the assignment on there).  Below is my board after the kids have placed their sticky-notes on there.  I can see right away that a few students did not finish their sticky notes yet.  This is an easy way to grade their work at a glance without sorting through a stack of sticky notes that may or may not have names on them.

The next idea comes from the amazing Ms. Zuskin.  If you have plastic letters that students use to make words/in a station, put them in a letter box.  These boxes are available at teacher supply stores.  This is not the amazing idea.  The amazing idea is that she took alphabet stickers and put them on the bottom of the individual trays so that students would know right away where they letters went when they clean up!  This is what the box looks like upside down:



Here is an idea that I stole from Mrs. Hall (and modified it slightly).  For Christmas gifts for parents, we made sled ornaments.  Take kid's pictures sitting with arms out.  I had kids sit on a table and had them pose as if on a sled.  Then I printed it out, laminated it, and cut around the child.  They made sleds out of Popsicle sticks and painted them red.  Then we hot glued on yarn for the hanger and sled handle.  Of course, I whited out the kid's face for the Internet, not in real life!