Help Yourself

As the year goes on, I get tired. The more systems I have to ensure the kids' self-sufficiency, the better.

This bulletin board, for example, allows the kids to pick up any of the regular hand-outs we use throughout the year. I stapled file folders to the wall and put copies inside for the kids to take as needed. There's a list of sensory words, synonyms for color words, transitions, reading logs to chart their reading, and sponge/exit slips. (The sponge/exit slips are papers with five blocks for each day of the week on either side of the paper. The students do entering and exiting activities each day on these sheets and turn them in on Friday.)

The "Help Yourself" bulletin board minimizes the housekeeping I'm responsible for and puts the responsibility on the students for keeping up with what's expected of them. It also keeps me organized and minimizes the files (or piles) I need to keep on hand.

Because I think it's important to put as much responsibility on the kids as possible, in order to allow them to be self-sufficient, I also have a reference bookshelf in the back of the room. Several dictionaries, thesauri and writing resource books are shelved there for the students to borrow as needed. Of course we have to rehearse how to take the books off the shelf and how to return them; this is middle school, after all.