[URMySunshine]

I am curious how you manage your folders in First Grade. Do your children come in and place their folders in a certain location for you to go through for notes, money, and such or are your children responsible for taking these items out for you? I am looping from K and always had an assistant do this for me. What works best for you?

[angelajw]

I have them put their folders in a bin when they come to class. If they have homework they take it out and take it to their desk. I pick up homework as I pass out morning work. If they have notes or money they take it out and bring it to me. At the end of the day I go through their folders and put them in their mailboxes. They are responsible for putting their papers in their folder and taking it home.

[jov]

Here's what I do. I teach the kids what to do the first week. After hanging up their coats, they must do the following before doing anything else.
1 - Put homework in the homework basket.
2 - Give all notes, money, papers, etc. directly to me.
3 - Trade in their take-home book and put it in their homework older.
4 - Put folder in their desk.

I have captains pass out new homework and other take-home papers later, after morning announcements, so I can watch and be sure it goes directly into the folders. Kids keep the folders in their desks all day and put finished papers in them when appropriate. Then the folder goes in the backpack at "prep for home" time.

[Peachyteacher]

I have students place their homework folders on the back table as they enter the classroom. We have to be at our doors to monitor the halls so I check in a couple of folders at a time. I quickly check in homework and look for money/notes at this time. I also place the next homework assignment in and stack on the back counter. Once the last bell rings and the announcements are on I check in the last couple of folders. If I don't get to all of them I then place to the side and catch up during my lunch. Some teacher wait until mid day for our planning period but I like to have this out of the way early in the morning. We have a lot of team and admin meetings during planning. This is what works for me.

[TLL1]

We use MOOSE binders and students place their binders on the bookshelf in the morning. I check them as the morning permits (my goal is to be done by the time announcements are over) and then return them. I check to see if homework is done - I don't check it for accuracy as we go over it as a group. I'm hoping to streamline this process this year so I'm eager to hear what others do!

[irises]

I have 4 bins:
In-Bin...doubles for homework/classwork.
Notes from Home
Traveling Folders
Going Home

Mine are placed on a shelf within reach of my desk. Students are trained to come in and place everything where it belongs, ex: Take notes from home out of their traveling folder and place in the Notes from Home Bin. While they are writing in their journals, I can do attendance, read notes etc. I often leave HW check for prep time.
The Going Home Bin is for any papers I want to send home that day (or next day for absent students) or other teachers who need to send things home such as Guidance Counselor, Speech therapist, etc. Traveling folders are distributed by student helper at end of day with all the papers going home or things from office.

[Marcigran]

kids put HW in tray by my desk, notes handed to me, folder goes into their desk. Papers being returned are passed out by two students, along with new HW, at end of day. These go into HW folder. I check HW during my prep or after school and return next day.

HW assignments are on a half page with room for parent comment. Parent must initial all work or write why it was not done. It's unusual for work not to be done.

Kids also have a daily work folder for things they are working on but not finished. These are kept in desks. Finished work goes into a stack of trays during day. I check through these and return next day. Writing folders are kept in crate and are passed out when workshop starts.

This system works for me.

[ReadingTchr28]

I have a bin for folders at the door. I also have a bin on my back table for HW and where they drop off their book logs. At the beginning of the year I try to go through their folders. But then I make it their responsibility to take everything out of their folder in the morning, they're already in it to get out their HW, they can get their notes/money out then too.

I then pass them out or have a child pass them out at the end of the day. They get too torn inside their desks. Homework is passed out by students around the same time and put in folders.

[Tiara Mama]

I have the students place their daily folders in a basket and then I check them as the students are coming in. Our morning routine time is about 20 minutes due to the amount of students gone for our breakfast program.

I have each side of the folder labeled...one side for parent-teacher communication and the other for student work to be kept at home. This helps make checking folders easy each morning. I do not have to dig through anything and can easily see if there is anything in the communication side.

[mcbtcarolina]

My students use a "STAR binder" so they take their things out and place them where they go. The binder then goes in their cubby until the end of the day.
-Homework Basket
-Signed and returned Basket (Test papers)
-Money bags/Notes from home

I will also have a going home bin this year.

This works well for me. At the beginning they open their binders on their desks and I guide them where everything goes. Then they do it automatically. I usually only have two students who I end up checking each day.