I've got a quick question. I'm putting on some new desk tags before my kids come back from Winter Break and I'd like a different product to attach them with. This year's group acts like little rats knawing away through the Clear Cover (http://www.officedepot.com/storeFront.do?Ne=5&Nr=100000&N=300013+100000+42949 56106), so I need something sturdier for the rest of the year. But it still has to come off easily! Any suggestions?
I can't put tags on my tables. Someone had the brilliant idea to get tables that NOTHING sticks to. This is great for the two times a year that we work with glue and paint, but for all practical purposes, not a good idea. However, my old school had desks and I did what Gina TX did, laminate, then clear packing tape. The packing tape always left a residue but it came off easily with Goo Gone. I've heard of teachers offering a prize to students whose name tags did not get picked off. For example, at the end of the month every name tag that is not picked off that student gets _______. I never tried it, but it might be worth it!
Teaching 5 groups a day, I tried using desk tags, etc. but by the end of the first day many were torn off and I had no idea who did it. A couple of times when I rearranged the desks, I would have a student ask, "Where do I sit," because that tag would have been removed. Therefore, I use a permanent marker (comes off easily with windex or rubbing alcohol) to write numbers on the corners of the desktops so even when it gets rubbed/erased away, by looking at the desks beside it we all know which number it is. I then use a chart with student names and as they walk in they look at the chart to see which number desk is theirs. I have been really unorganized about it this year, changing and rearranging desks every two weeks or so. It has taken a long time to get my classroom like I want (and I'm still not happy, but it will have to do for now). This semester, students will stay put for a grading period (9 weeks) unless there are problems.
It's a pain to cut out the clear contact paper, but I do it. Then I have a talk about don't pick at the edge of the contact paper b/c it will look awful, and there's really no need to pick at it-just let me know if it comes up. It's worked!! I've had about one kid a year that still picks, but that's it, and it looks nice everywhere else.
I liked the idea posted a while back about doing the names on the computer for your name tags-on clear label paper. Might try that someday, too.
For the last two years I have been using the Really Good Stuff plastic desktop helpers. I think they are GREAT!!! Not one kid has been able to ruin them... the worst they do is rub off their name, which is really easy to just rewrite. They stick pretty welll... only the most determined little buggers can get them off. So far this year, only one kid got his off just cause he keeps playing with it all day long. Even with pulling it off, it does not slide around on his desk, the little strips hold it in place even if they are not as sticky anymore. They are plastic too, so they cant be ripped or crinkled.
I hate scrapping tape off the desks at the end of the year. I put velcro dots on the back of the name tags and the desks. This way, the tags can be taken off and used in centers if needed. Also the dots are a lot easier to pull off the desks than all of that tape goo. I have been surprised that none of my students have played with the tags and they are holding up well.
I bought clear adhesive pockets from Really Good Stuff, and I attach them to the CHAIRS, not the desks. I have 7th graders, and my desks need book numbers, group numbers, letters, and other "notes" I used often. I put them on the desks and they picked, plucked, and drew until I was crazy. I put them on the chairs, and they're out of "pick pluck" range.
I only use name labels for the first week of school, and I print them on Avery permanent labels with plastic coating. The persistent ones get them off, but not entirely. I can remove them easily with a razor scraper.
is what I used and they are still holding up great. Just a little tricky to keep the bubbles out and like someone else said a hassle to cut each piece.
I have multiple classes and older kids. I just write their names on the desk with permanent markers (usually color coded by class). It comes off easily with acetone nail polish remover or white board cleaner. The kids like it because it doesn't come up when they move their stuff around, and I like it because they can't pick at it. Besides I'm a freak about moving desks (sometimes 3 times a week depending on what I'm doing). It makes it simple to switch them as well!
I no longer have to hear that question! This year I decided to make seat sacks. I love them for lots of reasons. One of my parents embroidered my students numbers on them. I number my students from 1-18 in ABC order. Anyhow, now they just locate their seatsack and they know just where they are. I initially made them as a storage solution, but am loving the added benefit of no more name tag worries!
-print name on the tag, laminate, and use velcro dots. You can change desks and easily move children around as desired. Just be sure you put the dots the same distance apart on each desk and tag, don't just eye it. This lasted all year, and the dots came off quickly at years end. Never again will I use that big messy strip of mactac!
the Really Good Stuff name tags are great! No laminating, pockets, or anything else needed. They're easily put on and taken off. They're also nice because if you initially position them wrong, there's no problem lifting them back up and fixing their placement. My fifth graders have yet to pull them off.
I move my students daily...this takes care of cliques and such. I laminate the desktags, and place them each morning. We do a lot of activities in groups and with the tags not attached to the tables, we have a large clear working area. Just a thought.
When I taught Kindergarten, I laminated the tags then attached with Velcro so I could switch table spots quickly. Now that I teach sixth, I laminate and attach with three rolled pieces of masking tape. So far, so good.
After helping out in our school's library my first year, I came across book tape. It was used to repair the books. When I moved to my own classroom the next year, I ended up with a large roll of it and without anything else immediately available when I wanted to put down nametags that year, I used it. It held up extremely well. At the end of the year, most of the tags were still firmly attached and when it came time to peel them off, the majority came off and didn't leave behind any residue. Ever since then, I've requested a roll with my supply order each June and have used it on my desks. It's always worked great.
I haven't attached the desk tags for the past couple of years. I laminate them, the kids keep them in their desks and we take them out each morning. There have been problems with attaching them to the desks --- cleaning and custodial issues mostly. Anyway I am quite happy not to tape them down. I find I refer to them more often and the kids use them more frequently when I say "Take out your name tag and find the _____ (eg number line, colour red, capital "X" etc)." I think I am more explicit in the "how to use" the name tag than I was when it was taped to the desk. Just my experience.
I have to agree with the other's that recommended the sturdy plastic name tags from Really Good Stuff.
KcK is right on the mark - the worst the children have done to them is wipe off their names. They don't tear. The self-adhesive backing doesn't leave 'gummy goo' (new word) on the desks that I have to spend hours scrubbing off!
When I tried lamination of paper name tags, they still didn't last this long (the whole year).
When I tried duct tape, clear packing tape, and Velcro (both dots and strips) there was still wear and tear and a mess to clean off the desks from the adhesive.
Hot glue just doesn't work on the surface of the desks we have at our school either. The kids just popped it up with a look of "Oh, did I just do something I wasn't supposed to do?"
I too love that they can easily be taken up off the desk and placed inside of the desk during tests or even kept in the desks after January.
I don't use nametags- a mentor teacher gave me the great idea of unfinished work folders and I write their name on that. It's, too, Velcroed to the desk. Then, in the PM, they place any unfinished work from the folder on their desk, strip off their folder, and it doubles as a homework folder. The next day, they hand me their HW, affix their folder easily back to their desk, stick their unfinished papers back in to work on later that day, and there we go! No one has lost or ruined one yet, nor the Velcro dots.
I too use the Really Good Stuff name tags. I have used them for a couple years and have had really good luck with them. Last year a couple kids decided to see if they could erase them. They of course started with the multiplication table that is printed on the name tag. Guess what? They were able to erase the numbers in the boxes. A couple of the kids that it was so cool to make designs by erasing the numbers. Boy, were they sorry, when later in the year we started working on Multiplication and they didn't have a multiplication table handy like the other kids did.
That's exactly what I was thinking about doing! Can I ask you a couple of questions?
1. Are there any issues with kids not knowing where their desk is (especially after a switch) or with you ever wanting to look across the desks when they are at a special and not remembering who sits where?
2. Do the long tags get bent/ how do you keep them in the desk?
I love that idea... I may try it for this half of the year.
1. Nope --- the kids always seem to know where they sit. Don't ask me how they know this stuff, they just do. We all spend the day together, but it's the kids (grade 1), not me that recognize one another's running shoes, hats, mitts, boots, lunch pails etc so desks aren't a problem for them.
When I want to sort papers onto their desks or move desks around when the kids aren't in the room I just ask them to leave their name tags on their desk. If they forget it isn't a big deal for me to scoot around and pull the tags out of the front of their desk.
2. The name tags hold up remarkably well. I laminate them. The kids have desks that are open at the front and they just slip the name tag in the front part of the desk. I guess because we use them so much they don't get "lost" in the desk.
Sometimes there is one kid who folds the name tag or writes on it or something, but these are the same kids who would figure out a way to fold it in half even if it was taped to the desk!!! Sometimes I just make another name tag and sometimes it is just a "life lesson" and the kid has a bent name tag. It really depends on what the child needs when this happens.
in the desks, the width of the desk opening accommodates the name tag so that I can glance at the opening and see whose desk I'm moving. Basically, if the tag is in and not on the desk, it's still easy to see whose desk I'm moving around.
I've done it like n2n2n2n2 and put the tags on the desk top to move the desk as well. It's so true that the kids just seem to know where to go though!
I stripped off the old beat up nametags, cleaned the desks, and put the new ones inside. My thing is that I don't have desks that open in the front and I'd like to not always to have to open them if I'm doing something. So I had the kids make and decorate very skinny smallish decorated tags that I could packing tape onto the front of the desk where the opening would be. I like it already! Thanks again!
Bookmuncher. But you could also attach a magnet to the name tag the kids made and place it on the side of the desk, but I don't know what your desks look like. When I did a permanent sub position in 5th grade that is how the teacher put their name tags on their desks.
I use clear contact paper to keep their name tags in place. The nice thing about this is it does not stick to the desks...it comes up very easily. If a student starts picking at a corner, you can use an exacto knife to cut off the corner and it still looks good.
I used to use contact paper, but it is so thin that the kids would push their pencils under it. It would look so ratty. Then I switched to book tape, and have found great success with it. My name tags (put on at the beginning of the school year) still look new! Book tape has such a strong hold, yet it comes off fairly easily at the end of the year. If there is any remaining residue, I just use the Magic Eraser.
Sorry if someone has already said this, I haven't read all the posts. But eucalyptus oil is really good at removing sticky marks left behind by anything. In Australia we can buy it from almost any supermarket. I'm not sure if you can in America, but if you see it give it a go. Very cheap and very effective.
When you guys were talking about using magnets a thought came to me. Dollar Tree sells sets of four (clothes pin) type clips with a magnet on one side. I already laminate their names so next time I'll just let them clip it to the side of their desks and we can pull them out when we need to use them. Right now I just made new ones with a nice number line and manuscript alphabet only on them. Thanks for the idea.
Now...what have you guys used to get the yucky residue from contact paper off the desks? I used a larger name tag at the beginning of the year and now there are black smudges everywhere!
I love the whole magnet idea and I'll definitely have to try the eucalyptus oil to remove what's on the desks from this year.
I used the clear packing tape my first year and it just left too much residue behind. This year I just used masking tape, which actually holds well until the kids get yucky bits of junk underneath and ruins the stickiness. But there isn't much residue left behind.
RGS is great. In addition to their self-adhesive hametags, they also have tape strips that you can put over them to keep the kids from erasing or to keep the writing from washing off. It's easy to remove, and it leaves no residue. I used the self-adhesive sleeves at the beginning of the year because I had tables instead of desks. I liked them because I could slide the nametag out and move it when I wanted to move a kid. When I got desks in December, I put down the desktags and covered them with the tape strips. They've stayed neat, and they don't leave a residue.
12-29-2006, 07:53 AM
No one has lost or ruined one yet, nor the Velcro dots. 
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