Tricks of the Trade and my Morning Must-Haves

Happy Thursday! It is almost summer break...I can feel the excitement in the air! I'm linking up with Becky at Compassionate Teacher and Jessica at Joy in the Journey for the Tricks of the Trade Thursday.

My system for collecting and returning homework is a simple system. I've used it since I became a teacher. In the morning when students turn in homework they place it into the appropriate slot. In the font of my room, right by the pencil sharpeners are black mail slots. These are plastic and you can find them anywhere.

I used nameplates to label each subject area. When students complete any assignment-in class or homework they place it into the slot. Then all I need to do is grab the papers from each slot to grade them.

Once they are graded I "mail" the students work back to them in their mailbox. They are labeled with each child's name. The students check their box each night and put all papers into their take-home folder. Since they are fourth graders I check to make sure each box is emptied at night-but I tell them and their parents that they need to be responsible to empty their folder each day-both at home and at school. For many of them it is the beginning of building independance in their work.

What do you do to collect and return homework to your students?

I'm also linking up with Across the Hall in 2nd to share some of my favorite things-morning must haves.

 

I am a morning thinker...I tend to get my best planning done and have the most creative ideas in the morning. In order to do this I need this:

Coffee makes everything okay! It gets my thinking going and keeps me going for hours!

 

I also need a banana. I have one each day, it is a habit I got into when I was in high school. I used to get leg cramps when I played soccer and eating a banana each day helped keep it away (I now know it is the potassium!) Anyway it is just my go-to for breakfast. 

What are your morning must-haves?