I am always thinking of ways to make notebooking more efficient in my classroom. This year my school changed to a new bell schedule which took away 5 minutes from my already short class periods. I was amazed at the huge difference 5 minutes made in what my students were able to complete this year when compared to last year.
It's no secret... I LOVE Interactive Science Notebooks and use them almost daily in my classroom, but with the loss of class time I'm experiencing this year, there are a few negatives/cons that I've set out to tackle. One of those little time wasters is throwing away trash. It seems like a tiny thing, but when you've got 24 kiddos cutting out foldables and roaming around the classroom to throw away their trash, things begin to happen - bad things. These crazy-hormonal, extremely social middle school kiddos somehow find a way to take the longest detour to the trashcan, just to swing by their friend and have a short conversation about the events of the previous weekend, etc... Before you know it, you've lost all control and you're having to micro-manage and discipline all of the off-task students.
It's a simple fix... provide a Tidy Tub for each group. These are small plastic tubs that I purchased at our local Dollar Store. They fit perfectly on my lab tables, underneath the sink spouts. When we are doing labs that require water or the sink drain, I simply remove them from the tables. but most of the time they are out of the way and super convenient. I created colorful labels to match each tub (the tubs come in 4 bright colors: blue, pink, green, and purple). I laminated the labels and hot glued them on the side of each tub.
So far the kids have loved them and I have noticed that less time is being wasted on the small task of throwing away trash. When I notice that they are filling up, I will walk around the room while students are cutting or gluing in foldables and empty them into my larger trashcans. Or if a student finishes early I will ask him/her to take care of emptying the Tidy Tubs.
One hurdle down....several more time wasters to tackle. Stay tuned!
If you'd like a copy of my Tidy Tub labels, CLICK HERE and download them from GoogleDrive.
It's no secret... I LOVE Interactive Science Notebooks and use them almost daily in my classroom, but with the loss of class time I'm experiencing this year, there are a few negatives/cons that I've set out to tackle. One of those little time wasters is throwing away trash. It seems like a tiny thing, but when you've got 24 kiddos cutting out foldables and roaming around the classroom to throw away their trash, things begin to happen - bad things. These crazy-hormonal, extremely social middle school kiddos somehow find a way to take the longest detour to the trashcan, just to swing by their friend and have a short conversation about the events of the previous weekend, etc... Before you know it, you've lost all control and you're having to micro-manage and discipline all of the off-task students.
So far the kids have loved them and I have noticed that less time is being wasted on the small task of throwing away trash. When I notice that they are filling up, I will walk around the room while students are cutting or gluing in foldables and empty them into my larger trashcans. Or if a student finishes early I will ask him/her to take care of emptying the Tidy Tubs.
One hurdle down....several more time wasters to tackle. Stay tuned!
If you'd like a copy of my Tidy Tub labels, CLICK HERE and download them from GoogleDrive.