Personal Offices are Beneficial

             

Personal Offices

     I am the teacher at school that makes all sorts of things out of junk. So here was my version of a personal office.

        If you know me at all, I don't throw anything away.  (I have lessons from my first years of teaching.)  I also don't like to spend a lot of money on things that I can make myself.  A few years ago my class needed new personal offices and I found these boxes in the school cardboard recycle bin.  St. Michael Parish hosts fish dinners on Fridays during Lent.  So there were plenty of these fish boxes for the taking.  A application of wide clear tape on the corners, and I was done. They fold up and store on a shelf.   These personal offices have lasted for a good many years and didn't cost me a dime.

         I like to add information to the personal offices that can lead students to better writing. Here is a list of irregular verbs that can be tricky for some students.

        A chart with  comparisons can be helpful when writing an answer on a test.
       (Please excuse the outer cutting of paper on this chart.  Before school started I had  8th grade students do the cutting and pasting for me. They wanted service hours.  I would take any help I could get the week before school in August!)

      You can see that I like to turn my students desks so that wandering eyes do not have a chance to take a peek at the paper of a classmate. 

      As you can see these boxes were the perfect size for our 5th grade desks. I know they are not the prettiest or cutest that you have ever seen, but they do work well for my students. Each child has a private place to take their test.  I also like to turn desks for test taking.

       When each child finishes their test, they keep their personal office up as not to disturb any classmates.  Some students become very anxious when they see other children finishing early and turning tests in before others.  This also gives everyone the same amount of time to complete and check over answers written on the test paper.  So many times children rush through a test and leave answers blank.  Other children don't bother to reread paragraphs or short answers that they have written.  Before anyone turns a test I ask them to check all their answers and reread what they have written.  Then I ask for a "show of hands" of those who have found a mistake.   I see smiles of those students who have found a mistake and have made a correction.

    

      Do you use personal offices or study corrals in your class? 

Please leave a short comment if you have an extra minute.  I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.  

Have a Fabulous day!
Beti