Lab Journals

Our new curriculum, Success for All (SFA), calls centers "labs".  Each day before lab time, students are to write about what they are going to do during lab time; they need to make a written plan.  It was suggested that we give children a 1/2 sheet of paper to complete the writing, and that we collect them periodically to track progress in writing.

I don't know about you, but keeping paperwork organized is not necessarily a strength of mine, and I didn't think having 1/2 sheets of paper floating around was going to help that!  Then I saw an idea...on another blog of course!  It was a "Monday Made It" on EmilyStuff.

You begin with a composition book and cut it in half.  I took mine to Office Max and they cut 12 for $4 (making 24 journals).  I then took my new favorite craft material, colored duck tape, and got to work.  I LOVE my finished product.

Because I teach kindergarten, it isn't likely that the kids will write on the lines, but this is not the expectation, just to give them an organized place to write. If you are up close, you can see a little bit of the composition book pattern through the white circles, but not from a distance.  I just need to add a little label and they are ready to go.