It’s 10:00. Lunch is imminent. You are halfway through a math lesson, then you hear it. Pencils rolling around supply boxes, paper crumpling. The dreaded desk rummaging has begun.
Personally, if I had a dollar for every time one of my students was playing in his or her desk during a lesson, I could retire today a happy girl. Unfortunately, I am in the business of teaching 6 and 7-year olds and this is nothing but a pure fantasy. The reality is, rummagers will be rummagers. Have desk, will fidget.
Enter my super smart cooperating special education teacher, who introduced me to the greatest innovation yet in the world of teaching: The Box Top.
Sometimes, things are just so simple it makes me wonder why I never thought of it. The Box Top changes this:
To this:
Not only does this beautiful piece of cardboard keep hands out of desks, but it also allows for much better organization, in my opinion. Loose scraps, crayons, and supplies do not fall victim to the abyss that is a student’s desk, and all of the materials can be accessed in one easy makeshift tray. This also eliminates the endless questions of “Where is my science notebook?” or “Where is my…?” because guess what?! Instead of sifting through a desk until the inside is unrecognizable, you can pull out this handy dandy tray and look in a more civilized fashion.
Easy solutions, people. This is what Bright Ideas and teaching is all about!
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This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Desk play is one of the many reasons I moved to tables and seatsacks:) My teammate still has desks and she flipped her desks around so that the student's supplies were actually in the desk behind them. They had to turn to get anything in their desk's so she knows who is playing.
☮Monica
The Schroeder Page
Brilliant! And cheap too! This is a great solution to the "desk rummaging" problem. Thanks for sharing!
Sara 🙂
The Colorful Apple
LOVE this idea and thanks so much for sharing!!!
Deb at Fabulously First
Brilliant. Take a look at our new site when you have a chance: Created by Teachers, Exclusively for Teachers