Friday Folders (Giveaway ends in 6 days)

First things first - In case you didn't see the post yesterday we made it to over 100 followers - which means there is a giveaway.  Sign up if you haven't already.  It'll end next Wednesday, July 18th.

Now onto more paperwork business - 

my life is full of paperwork at the moment... 

Friday folders are an important resource in my classroom.  I send home our monthly newsletter, book orders slips, their updated behavior sheet, project sheets, etc. home in that folder.  Their tests from the previous week also goes inside it for parents to review.  Parents know to look for that folder in their child's backpack, and check it during the weekend.  In past years I have used a manilla envelope to hold all the goodies, but this year I decided to use my colored paper folders to do the work - you know, those kind that we picked up 10/$1 last summer, because I just didn't want to spend any more money...

The behavior log gets updated every Friday.  I have the dates for each trimester on it so I only have to do a quick coloring job on Friday afternoon for their weekly behavior.  This is hole punched inside their 3 prong folder.

  My school also has accounts for Accelerated Reader and IXL for Math.  At the end of the month I update this document with each student's information.  In past years I always pull this out of their folder and keep it separate for the month, but this year I am going to keep it in a sheet protector inside their folder so it doesn't become lost in all the other papers.

I know that some people like to file the papers that are sent home on Fridays, so it's an easy fill it up into the folders.  I used to do that too when I taught primary.  Then I started thinking a couple of years ago when I came back to 4th that I really dislike filing.  I don't mind filing my stuff - but the endless amounts of papers that go through my hands, well I don't like doing it.  Since my students have the ability to help out, I let them.  I still make a pile of papers to be passed back (after they are marked/graded) but then on Friday afternoons I host a "Paper Passing Party".  Some weeks I put on music, and for 10 minutes every single kid in the class is helping pass out all the papers to the other students desks.  After all the kids are done passing out papers, we sit and go through the papers together.  The kids have a chance to look at their papers, and make sure they are all theirs...  "Look children, here is the math test you took last week" and "You should have received this, this, and this."  We go over the book order slips, the newsletter, etc. together at the end of the paper passing party.  Just another thing I love about 4th grade! 

Do you do the same type of thing in your classroom?  I'm always looking to see what others do for parent communication.  Stay cool today, it's a hot one!