I am linking up with {Courtney at Polka Dot Lesson Plans} for her first linky! This one is focusing on how departmentalized grades keep track and motivate students. I have blogged about this many times in the past, so this is a review/summary post of what we did last year.
Organization
Pictured on the left is how I keep track of grades and who has handed in what or who was absent. Pictured on the right are the three turn-in baskets for the three different groups that I see during the course of the day. To read the details, please click {here} to visit my original post. This post is actually one of my top three most popular posts. Information on these particular things are towards the bottom of the post.
Since students travel between three different core teachers, they need to keep a planner of their work and assignments. When students come to my class, I have something similar to this projected on my board for them to copy. I only have social studies and literacy filled out. They get the other subjects from their other teachers. Click {here} to read details on this post.
We have a Google doc to log late and missing assignments. Then we can give the appropriate consequences for violating our assignment policy. This is critical so students don't try to pull a fast one on us. I am very lucky that the other teachers in my team are dedicated to staying on top of the assignment completion problem that we have! Click {here} to read more about it!
And my famous name stick holder. This post has almost 4,000 hits in the last month, so it's worth mentioning again. I have three sets of these, one for each set of students I see. It helps me to learn their names and make sure that I keep their classes straight. Read more about it {here}.
Motivation
This has been HUGE for us this year. Each quarter, students are rewarded with a party to celebrate their responsibility. The whole fifth grade is in on it. It's HIGHLY motivational. Read about our tips for running a successful and sanity-saving club {here}.
Towards the end of the year, when I needed to bribe students in all classes, I came up with this prize line. Almost every student in every class bought into it. I will probably use it next year, since it's immediate gratification, and it's easy to use with more than one class. Click {here} to read the details.
In conjunction with the prize line, this was my most popular coupon, and it was highly prized by every student. Best part, it's FREE! Students asked if they could use it in other classes, and I told them that it was up to that teacher. See this and other coupons {here}.
Whew! That's a bunch! Thanks for making it to the bottom! Remember that I have my {whole TpT store} on sale through the end of the day. You also still have time to do the {blog hop}!
And if you made it this far, pin something from this post, leave the link in the comments with your email if you're a no-reply blogger, and on Monday morning I'll choose two people to get their choice of something in my store for free.
Love your ideas! Thanks for sharing :)
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usagirl@comporium.net :)
We are departmentalizing next year so I was very excited to see this linky. Thank you for sharing your ideas!
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mrsepleasant@gmail.com
I like the way you record their grades and such. Very organized.
ReplyDelete~Brandee
Creating Lifelong Learners
Our 5th grade is departmentalized so I'm always looking for new ideas to organize or motivate! Thanks, Diane. And thanks for your freebie from the blog hop, too!
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Hokie Teach
The name stick idea is definitely a great one!
ReplyDeleteDiane, thanks so much for linking up! This post is the jackpot of information! I'll spending a lot more time this week checking out all the great ideas. I love your planner idea. We are switching to a team of three and will be needing some help on how to organize/keep up with homework.
ReplyDeleteCourtney
Polka Dot Lesson Plans
I am moving from self contained 1st grade (5 years) to 5th grade Social Studies this ear so I'm excited to find your blog. I love the idea of having separate turn in bins for each class period. I will definitely be using that idea!!
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klkepfer@gmail.com
Glad to find another 5th grade SS teacher. Keep in touch!
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ReplyDeleteI love these ideas! Thank you for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteAmber
Creative Ideas for the Upper Elementary Classroom