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1. Bathroom: I have one hand sanitizer for the girls, and one for the boys. If they need to use the restroom, they will put the hand sanitizer on their desk so I know where they are. This also limits the bathroom use to one person in the restroom at a time. When they return from the bathroom they will use the hand sanitizer, and then return it. Students are free to use the bathroom at any time during independent or group work. They should only use the bathroom during a lesson if it is an emergency.
2. Pencils: I give all of my students a new pencil at the beginning of each month. If they want more pencils than that, they are responsible for bringing them. Then, I have a “Good” pencil cup and a “Bad” pencil cup. If the students break their pencil, they will place it in the “Bad” pencil cup, and take a new one from the “Good” pencil cup. This stops students from constantly sharpening their pencils during class time, and allows for each student to always have a pencil.
3. Cubbies: I have cubbies for the students to turn in all of their homework, and turn in trays for the students to turn in classwork.
4. Library: I created a check out/check in spreadsheet for my students to use when they want a book from my library. They are only allowed to have one of my books out at a time. I do this because I want to make sure they are reading the entire book before getting a new one. Of course, if they decide that the book is not for them, they can always trade it for another one. I was in charge of the spreadsheet in the beginning of the year, but the students know how to use it now. Next year, I would like to possibly create this spreadsheet on Google Excel, and then create a QR code linked to that spreadsheet. This way the students would be able to scan the QR code and fill out the spreadsheet on their iPads.
5. Classwork: Each of my students have three different folders for their classwork. They have a math folder, language arts folder, and student portfolio. The math and language arts folders have pockets for holding any ongoing work, and note taking pages. The students are expected to keep all of their put away and organized in these folders. They are also expected to use these folders as resources during independent and group work. Their student portfolio has pockets to keep completed work examples, and it contains a checklist of student friendly standards. The students are expected to use student portfolio as a way to gauge their own learning, and to use as evidence of their learning during conferences.
7. Late Work: Late work is accepted in my classroom. No matter what the circumstances, I always encourage the students to turn in any late work. There are a multitude of different reasons that work does not get turned in on time, but there should not be an excuse for not turning it in at all. Every student learns, and works, at a different pace, therefore they may complete work at different times.
6. Tests: Since I take a lot of time to teach my students about growth mindset, and that everyone learns at a different pace, they are allowed to retake tests. Just because a student may not know how to answer the question then does not mean they will never know it. They just don't know it YET. I believe in giving more than one opportunity, therefore students will have the chance to fix any mistakes they have made on a test for resubmission. Test retakes will be done independently in the classroom. Performing poorly on a test can also be a reflection of how I taught the content, and this gives me the opportunity for reteaching before students take the assessment again.
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