W.O.R.K. For It!

W.O.R.K.

In Ms. Dawson's classroom we are working hard, organized, responsible, and we know we can do it!

Hello, 2013-2014 school year and HELLO middle school! 

I am so very excited to have a sparkling new, fresh classroom to call my own this year! And I am doubly excited that I will be teaching the middle school grades! (Yes, you read correctly GRADES, as in 6, 7, AND 8th grades!)

As promised, I am writing this post to share my W.O.R.K. binder system! I snagged the idea from a 2nd grade teacher who posted her similar binder system on Pinterest. You can see her blog post here: http://simply2ndresources.blogspot.com/2012/08/update-on-star-binders.html

At first glance, I loved the idea of having a binder that held all the go-to student stuff; however, I wasn't sure how to adapt this elementary level idea to the middle school level until I sat down and really mapped out what my students would absolutely need. But that is the beauty of this idea- it can be so easily adapted to any grade, and it's contents can be modified as needed. 

I am lucky enough to work at a small school, so I already know my students pretty well! This means I am ahead of the game and I have an idea of what to expect, what their struggles are, what their parents like and need, etc. This factor definitely made it way simpler to break down (and I might modify it further as we get closer to the beginning of school). 

Well enough of my rambling, let me introduced to you Ms. Dawson's W.O.R.K. binder!

This is the cover of the W.O.R.K. binder. On the cover, you can see clearly the WORK acronym, a name badge, the guidelines for keeping WORK binders nice and neat, and the contents. 

The Rules

PLEASE:

1.Keep your binder with you at school and take it home EVERY DAY

• Taking things home when instructed was a big problem for my students last year. One aspect of the WORK binder is to help teach students appropriate levels of responsibility. 

2.Keep your binder in excellent condition- you only get one

• We also had problems treating our belongings, namely books and notebooks, with respect; therefore, it is stressed to the students that the condition of their binder is THEIR responsibility- this will be a part of procedure-palooza at the beginning of the school year. (And yes, there will be consequences for mistreatment of our super important binders!)

3.You are responsible for your binder and its contents- treat it with respect!

• This rule, though a little redundant, is reiterating the previous rule, but specifically concerning the CONTENTS of the binder. My goal is to no longer waste time waiting on disorganized students who inserted their papers backwards, rumpled, torn, etc., during class time. I also want the students to have an understanding that "I left my binder at home" is not a valid excuse- responsibility, responsibility, responsibility! 

CONTENTS:

Agenda

Schedule

Calendar

Reading Program

SSH Log

Newsletter

Classroom Promise

Classroom Rules

HW Folder

• I won't go into too much detail concerning all of the guts of our beautifully organized binders- it's pretty typical stuff. When choosing what the contents would be, I thought specifically of things that I KNOW my students would ask repeatedly (agenda, schedule, calendar), things they need constant reminding of (rules, promise), things their parents want to see (newsletter, agenda), and things they touch every day (reading program, SSH Log, HW folder). If you take the same approach, you can easily recreate a binder for your own classroom that is tailored to your student's needs! 

My goal with the WORK binder system is: 

1. To consolidate all those pesky papers that tend to get rumpled in the back of desks, but are necessary for student success. 
2. To set students up for organization and responsibility, but make it SIMPLE so that they know they are capable of functioning well as middle schoolers. 
3. To create a way to communicate with parents and families on a daily basis without worrying that papers are not making it home. 

If you have similar goals and messy, disorganized students who need a little nudge in the responsibility arena, I encourage you to brainstorm and use the binder system as your muse to create a simple, effective way to keep your students "together" (but sneakily make them do the work) when it comes to daily, classroom housekeeping! And if a binder is too much, this idea could be further simplified by making it into a folder! The possibilities are endless! 

I will be posting the contents of the WORK binder in a separate post- hope you enjoyed the teaser! 

Happy planning and happy teaching!

Love, 

Miss Laura