You Oughta Know About...SAVING ON COPIES!!!!!

Happy Saturday!  I am so excited to link up with Jasmine from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for a You Oughta Know Blog Hop!!!

Ok, so this is my FIRST year since I have been teaching (11 years!!!) that I have a COPY LIMIT!!! This is ALSO the first year that I am teaching middle school (math AND science), and I have 27 MORE students than I am used to...so needless to say I've been STRESSING about the amounts of copies I can make (interactive notebook, classwork, homework....) that could equate to hundreds of copies a WEEK.  However, I have come up with a few ideas this year that are saving me on a LOT of copies!  I thought that you all "oughta know" about them!!

First, all of my bell work, some classwork, and ALL formative assessments are done on students personal dry erase boards:

I love being able to quick check classwork, and they LOVE using their markers to make it colorful and fun!!!  All I did was use a sheet protector that the students clip into their binders.  I let them pick what color paper they want as their "board", and they keep a little tissue and their marker in their binder so they are ready to go when needed! :)

The second thing this year that I LOVE is my homework!!!!!  I was stressing before school even STARTED about how I was going to NOT go over my copy limit, yet still be able to assign homework!  That's when I thought of a solution!  Homework NOTEBOOKS!!!!  I had the students decorate them all cute (it's amazing what kids can do with duct tape now!), and then each day they post a STRIP into their notebooks to do that night for homework!  

 I encourage them to make it fun, colorful, etc.  I don't care if they do it in marker, pen, etc.  I want them to ENJOY their homework, and whatever it takes to keep them engaged I'm game.  :)  

Essentially, I can fit 4 days worth of homework on one sheet, so in the course of a week, I only make the 60 or so copies that I need for the week ONCE.  I just cut the strips as  I go each day, and they just glue them into the notebook that day.  Here is ONE example of a strip for the week:

I love this because I can use story problems, differentiate, etc.  I have put these strips in one bundle for SUPER cheap! 

It would work well for grades 6-8 (as a spiral review or as a new concept).  You could use this as your bell work, classwork, quizzes OR homework! Remember you can print ONE sheet/student/week!!!! :)  I'll continue to grow the units as the year progresses, so if you're a 6th grade math teacher, this could be the idea for YOU!  I will post them by standard group, starting with part of Number Systems first. :)

This is 15 letter sized worksheets worth of work condensed onto 5 pages!  So instead of making one copy for one student, you are essentially making one copy for one students ONCE A WEEK!

I am in the process of adding some Number Systems spiral review strips (50 more questions-5 strips) into this packet, so be sure to get it while the price is LOW, and then you can upload the file again when new strips are added! :)

I also have a Interactive Notebook Practice Strips for Ratios and Proportions, too! :)

 The third thing that I do to save on copies is to do a LOT of group work/pair work.  I can thank my Kagan training for this one! :)  I use Rally Coach a LOT, and my students know if their name is on a paper with another students, they BETTER agree with the answer that is on that paper.  If not, they need to talk to out and figure out what they agree on.  This took some practice, and MODELING to get it they way I want it, and with a new class and a new grade it is still a work in progress, but you need to stay persistent to what your expectations are. :)  I used this recently with my marshmallow lab & flower dissection lab (which I will blog about sometime this weekend!):

Students had ONE paper for the group to make their recordings, but they ALL needed to agree on the answers.  

If you like THIS Oughta Know tip, you will LOVE the tips from my other bloggy friends!!!!  Head on over and check them out!!! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday on a Saturday! :)

Whew!!  It's the weekend!!!!  This back to school stuff makes it a lot harder to keep up with the blogging!  Yikes!  I need to get with the program. :)  So...better late than never I guess with my Five for Friday link up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

First, I am still LOVING my decision to move to middle school!!!!!!!  LOOOVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I really also LOVE my principal!  She is AH-MAY-ZING!  Just working for her alone will make me a better teacher (and no I am not just saying that because she could read this someday if she ever finds out I'm a teacher blogger!  ha ha). 

 It is so nice to teach two subjects, and it makes it a lot easier to "go all out" with two as opposed to teaching EVERYTHING.  I still stand by my initial observation of that 6th graders are not that much different than 4th graders.  So, if you have ever wanted or thought about giving it a try, I HIGHLY recommend giving it a shot!!!! :)

Friday, after our quiz we played my FAVORITE game.  I received a class set of this game as a gift from a wonderful parent a few years ago, and I LOVE it.  It makes the perfect emergency sub plan, too!!  It's called Equate!  It's like Scrabble only for math!   They have it on Amazon if you want to check it out! :)  I used it with my 4th graders, too!

My class has also been really enjoying their science lab, and I am also enjoying teaching it!!!!! :)  This week we are doing a parts of a flower dissection lab, so I created our lab materials for Monday!

I'm super excited to use it, so if you are interested in using it, too, check it out! :)  I'll be posting pictures of how it goes this week!!! :)

I don't know if anyone else out there has a COPY LIMIT, but this year is my first year with one, and I am FREEEEEEAAAKKKKIINNNGGG out!!  

I'm used to making anything I want, but now I'm stressing.

So, this year I am thinking of ways to save on my copies (and also saving trees in the process!!!).  

With middle school I have been doing a lot of bell ringer activities.  I used to use Accelerated Math as my activity, but we do not have that anymore, so I had to get creative.

Sooo...I put about 5 math questions on the board, and in the first week of school I gave ALL of my students a clear sheet protector and a piece of their choice colored paper.  I asked them to also have a dry erase marker.  This goes into their binder.  So, now instead of making copies of work for the students to do, they can do it on their boards!

I also now can use these for another way to do formative assessment or classwork! :)  Hooray for saving trees (and paper!).  I am also VERYYYYYYY excited about the way I am doing my homework this year, too!!  I'll be blogging soon about that, so stay tuned!

I FINALLLLLYYY used my sticky note exit board this week!!!!

My class had a ball with this.  They commented on how we needed more different colors of sticky notes!  ha ha.  Plus this was yet ANOTHER way for me to use formative assessment in my classroom!