When I first started teaching ten years ago, I spent LOTS of time LABELING! Avery sticker labels were my best friend. Now, Target Dollar Spot has blessed teachers with many ways to label your classroom with their clear adhesive pockets.
My favorite size is the square 3.5 x 3.5 clear labels. I now prefer these over the Avery options because they don´t leave behind the sticker residue or annoying, white remnants that shipping labels normally do when you peel them off. This means if you need to re-position them, it´s not a big deal. After leaving my first school district, some of my former coworkers let me know that Room 30 still has touches of me with all MY labels still on the cabinets! (That's just PROOF at how much of a job it is to REMOVE shipping labels.)
FREE Classroom Label Tip #1: Name Tags (on chair backs)
Last year, we started leveling our students for math. This meant, my homeroom class would switch to one of the two other grade level teachers if they weren't staying with me for accelerated math. I knew I wanted to have name tags in an area that other students coming from different classrooms wouldn’t be distracted by or messing with. As a fix, I decided to place the square labels on the chair backs. Some of the labels did need to be replaced about midway through the year because the kids would pull out the labels when I wasn’t vigilantly monitoring or through just normal wear and tear of stacking chairs, but it was definitely less than how often I normally have replaced regular desk tags!
FREE Classroom Label Tip #2: Table Folders
One of the ways I organize unfinished work at tables is with poly plastic folders. I would mainly use this for students to keep writing papers and/or science lab activities since students tend to be at different stages of completion. This system greatly helped me to manage revising rough drafts over the weekend, and planning for writing during the upcoming week. The left pocket had a shipping label which said, "still working..." and the right pocket's label was, "finished work."
Looking through my class´ writing progress this way helped me to check the status of the class and determine who wasn't ready for the publishing stage, and how to plan my lessons accordingly. Each table, 1 through 6, would travel lightly in my tote bag - much nicer than 25 notebooks. This method also kept everything easily organized for students to access without having to pass back and sort through an entire class set.
FREE Classroom Label Tip #3: Personal Schedule Reminders
Managing schedules for my resource and speech students DRIVES me CRAZY!! I try to avoid having to answer the questions, "When do I have to leave for writing?" as much as possible. Part of making this a peaceful reality for myself is to create schedule reminders for my students to refer to all by themselves! For example, "What time do we go to lunch?" - I simply point to the schedule on the whiteboard. Why wouldn't it be different for personal schedules?
Aside from not having a clue what time each speech student leaves for their services every week, I know these printed reminders help out these guys deal with their anxiety so much!! These students crave routines and are SO TIME-DRIVEN!! So, I designed a desk reminder that can be easily edited the next time there's a schedule change ------which is HIGHLY LIKELY (at my school)!!
I place this reminder in the top corner of my students' desks because they are discrete and help them to manage all the places they need to be ALL by THEMSELVES!! This promotes independence and saves my sanity because I no longer have to worry about getting these learners to their push-out classrooms.
Since this is my FAVORITE way to use these Target labels, I created this video tutorial to show you how to do it yourself! Check it out to see how I create these personal schedule reminders!
FREE Classroom Label Tip #4: Numbered Cubby Labels
Instead of placing the labels where the printout loads in at the top, I rotate the opening so it´s on the right. Not only did it help me to keep everything flush with the straight edge, but it has helped these labels stick for years! This strategy prevented the adhesive pocket from getting caught on anyone´s backpack and allowed me to avoid the lip that is created by the opening gap. I´ve had these labels on my cubbies for the past two years without having to replace a single one!!
FREE Classroom Label Tip #5: Participation Tallies
WARNING: This will make the label somewhat dirty. Simply, place a Sticky Note inside the label and have students write on them with dry erase markers. During math lessons I do ANYTHING possible to make sure students are engaged in their learning. One of these strategies is to have them give themselves a participation tally for responding or completing the appropriate task when directed. I typically set a goal of having them reach 15 tallies before our Exit Ticket at the end of our lesson.
For example, I might say, "If you read the I can statement with me, give yourself a tally." "If this is the solution you shared with your partner, give yourself a tally." If you´d like to make it even more competitive, then you can have table groups total up their tallies and award an ACTUAL TABLE POINT to the table with the most participation tallies that day.
BONUS Tip: Line Display (no pocket label needed)
My sister has previously used calendar numbers purchased at the teaching supply store to attach to the tiles on the floor in her kindergarten classroom. Now, her students use these numbers to know what spot to stand in when they line up to leave the classroom at any time. This teaches them about personal space and where to find their student number.
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