Ok friends, how many of you have students that rush through their work, forget
vital steps like putting their name on it or date, skip things completely, OR,
heaven forbid, all of the above! Come on, raise your hand, you know you do!!!
I can't count the number of times I have come to a paper to grade and IT DOESN'T
HAVE A NAME ON IT!!!! It blows my mind y'all!
Well, I have come up
with a little reminder posters to {hopefully} help eliminate that problem. It
does require some training, but it has helped most of my students to turn in
quality work ***with their name on it*** :0) We know it as "Smiley Work". This
is a "go-back-and-check-your-work" type poster.
Here's how it works:
Students will draw a mini smiley face at the
top, right hand of their paper by verifying their work. {I even make this a
possible point or bonus point if it is done correctly}
*They verify that
they put their name and date on their paper-if it is done, they draw a circle.
If not, this is a reminder to put it their info on their paper and then they can
draw a circle.
*They verify that they followed the assignment's directions.
This may mean that they need to look up at the the paper and reread the
directions, or look at the board to view the directions - if this done, they
draw one eye.
*They verify that the work is complete. This involves checking
the page to make sure that all blanks are filled in, or look around they desk to
make sure that they have not lost/forgot any cut/sort pieces, etc.-if this is
done, they make another eye.
*They verify that they did their best work,
meaning good handwriting, quality not sloppy copy work-if they did this, the
draw a mouth.
*When all of the verifying is complete, they show they are
ready to turn in by decorating their smiley face with hair and ears then turn in
the work.
One of the first things that I check before grading a paper is
to see if the Smiley face is there. If it is not, I call the kiddo back
over before grading it to have them complete it. This allows them the
opportunity to correct things one last time. I also take points off it the
smiley face is completed, but I can see that they did not verify the work.
In sticking with with "smiley
face" work, I also have a poster on my writing bulletin board that includes a
"Smiley Face Writing" poster that I thought I would pass along with you too!
It works the same way as the other poster, but this
time they are verifying their writing. This is used before teaching the editing
process but this helps them to understand that later.
*A circle for name
and date {that stays the same}
* An eye for capitalization
*An eye for
punctuation
* A nose for spaces
*A mouth for their best
handwriting
*Decorate the face with hair and ears when they have done their
best work and ready to turn in.
Happy verifying,
Coconut Cutie
