Managing Your Turn-In Tray Using Clothespins

Hi everybody! It's Jamie from 2nd Grade Stuff.  Today I am hosting a Throwback Thursday post from my own personal blog.  It's a fun, easy, and useful way to use an everyday item in your classroom - clothespins!  See the Throwback Thursday post below!

For the next few weeks we are showing you fun and easy ways to use everyday items in your classroom!  We hope you'll stop back by and link up some of your own ideas!  Come join in the fun and Show Us How You Use It!  :)

Do you ever feel like you are constantly checking to see who has turned in work, who is still missing work, or who the no-name paper belongs to?  As a teacher, I think we all find ourselves dealing with the Turn-In Tray Mess!  I came up with an easy solution that saves me time and best of all, it's cheap and easy!

At the beginning of the year, I give each student a number.  It is their number to remember all year long.  It's their cubbie number, desk number, clip chart number, and best of all....their turn-in tray number!  For the turn-in tray, I put their numbers on clothespins.  Let me say, yes, I could have used Washi tape or dye or paint or cute little numbers for the clothespins, but I was going for FAST and EASY, my friends!  This is what my turn-in tray looks like before student work is turned in:

When the students go to turn in their work, they have to find their clothespin, clip it to the top of their paper, and place it in the tray.  This is what it looks like after work has been turned in:

This serves two purposes.  1) If you find a no-name paper, you can quickly figure out who the paper belongs to because their student number is attached and 2) You can easily see who hasn't turned in their paper!  Check it out below:

Don't forget to join the rest of the girls from Owl-ways Be Inspired for more useful ways to use clothespins in the classroom.  Browse through the links below or link up a fun idea of your own and Show Us How You Use It!  :)

An InLinkz Link-up

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Using Clothespins to Pick Centers

Hi! Jen Ross here... from Teacher by the Beach (formerly, The Teacher's Cauldron...which is why my pictures have my old blog button on them)

I'm here to show you just ONE of the ways that I use clothespins! I use them to pick my centers... it varies from year to year, but no matter the variation, one variable stays the same... the clothespins! Last year, this is how I had my center choices set up. The students all have numbers (you can read about my "NUMBERS" post HERE) and I write their numbers on the clips. They pick their reading center in the morning when they come in. They use their menu to check to see which center they haven't done yet and I can only have 3 students to a center.

And actually, last year I had 5 reading centers and 5 math centers....so the blue cards were the reading centers and the green cards were the math centers. So they had a clip with their number in blue for reading centers and a clip with their number in black to pick their math center. And my janitor at the end of the day just lined them up in number order on the baseboard for easy organization.

Here is how my center menu correlates...you can check out the post HERE on how I manage my small groups. 

Hope that gave you an idea of how else you could use clothespins...other than hanging up their beautiful artwork!

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Show Us How You Use It: Clothespins {with Amanda}

Are you ready for another amazing week of sharing ideas here at Owl-ways Be Inspired?

This week is all about...

the clothespin!

I use clothespins for so many things in my classroom, but today I'm going to share some of the most basic ways because they are my can't-live-without-them, saves-my-tail-every-day management systems.

I have several sets of clothespins that I've written student numbers on.  You know what that means - I'm able to use them year after year after year, thus saving me so much prep time!

When students enter the room each morning, they head straight to our attendance/lunch board.  They find the clothespin with their number and move it to their lunch choice for the day (A, B, C, or Lunchbox).  I know that clips still hanging on the ribbon are students who are absent that day.  Lunch choice and attendance made easy and quick with no wasted instructional time!

I use this same method for lots of other charts around the classroom...like our Cozy Reading Spots Rotation Chart (you can barely see it hanging on the wall in this picture (above right of furry monster on the floor). :)

By using clothespins, a student can easily rotate our cozy reading spots at the end of each day.  Speaking of students' jobs...this is exactly how I handle jobs in my classroom, as well.  I have them listed on a chart and students (numbered) clothespins clipped beside the job name.  SO easy to change each quarter!

I don't have a picture of my classroom clip chart for responsibility, but I'm sure you've seen those ALL over teacher blogs and Pinterest.  Yep..clothespins are a teacher's best friend!

Here's a new little idea I'm going to use with my clipchart clothespins this year.  I've seen teachers add a "jewel" to the clothespin when a student reaches the top of the clipchart.  Once it's full of jewels, it is "retired" to a hall of fame.  Well, I plan to let students add a little pom-pom each time they reach the top of the clipchart and once it's full of pom-poms, they'll get to add wiggly eyes to it and take it home to share with their families.  How proud will they be??  I mean...I had to incorporate these cute little clothespin caterpillars from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom somehow...so CUTE!

So, tell us...how do YOU use clothespins in your classroom?  Link up with your ideas below and come back for a new idea tomorrow!

An InLinkz Link-up

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