I know there have been several threads on this and I think I even started one last year. I even looked back at the old threads but I am so sick of telling my students over and over and over and all day long to put names on PAPERS!!!!! -I've tried visuals on my white board. -Told over and over and over and over all day long. -I made students do work over again and this worked but then when it was my low students who needed the extra practice but they would never get done. It would take them forever to even finish the first sheet with no name. -Taken away team points even if one person from a table did not have their name. I thought this would help groups work together to put names on papers without me asking. It worked. -Ive thrown papers away. What else can I try? I have read that students need to make sure they highlight their name but I don't know how well this would work with first graders. Especially when I have them turin in their papers all at once. Will I be doomed for saying "make sure your name is on your paper"more than 50 times a day for the rest of my career??!!!! I want a good system to have when school starts so I can nip it in the bud in the first 9 weeks.
The teacher across the hall from me uses this.... If you forget your name on your paper you have to practice writing your name 20 times on a seperate sheet of paper. She says it works for 3rd graders. I have yet to try it, but it might be worth a try. An other idea... walk around while the kids are working and give a sticker or stamp to the kids who remembered to put their name in their paper without being asked. As soon as the kids see what you are doing they will make sure they put their name on their paper to earn the sticker.
That is actually a really good idea. So simple. How did you chose the captain? And what did you do if for some reason a paper was missed and was turned in without a name.
I just pick a new captain at each table every day. If I get papers without name, I hang them up...kids usually claim them.
Before each assignment I say "point to your name on the paper." Then I say, "Now point to your neighbor's name on his/her paper." Kids love 'catching' someone else without a name on the paper. It really does work.
I still have this problem in 5th grade...I don't think it ever ends. If I don't have their work I put their number on the whiteboard and they are to erase their number when they turn it in. If I have no names I put them up with a magnet and write no names above it. I always have kids whining to me that they turned it in and I ask them where they could look...still the last couple of weeks I would have blank stares...really? We have done this all year ugh! I think they are in such a hurry to get things done and turned in and it is a never ending problem!
This year I ditched the work folders and put up an Organization Station pocket chart. It was a visual cue for me and the students if any work was not done. For no name papers I got fed up this year. My boys were horrible about putting their names on paper. Wonderful work, but no names. So when I made copies, or took the math page from our consumable books, I made extra. Any no name papers went into the trash, and any students who I didn't have a paper from had to do it again. It took a couple weeks, but I got my point across to them. After I started making them do the paper again, I got more names on the original papers.
I think it is so frustrating for sure - I know it's annoying in my 6th grade classroom. But I think in the primary grades, it is to be expected. They are just learning about what it means to be in this whole "school" thing with papers and names. When I taught 2nd grade, I used to have kids put their names on their papers all at one time, and I'd check as they turned them in.. .when I didn't have time to do that, and my para wasn't there, I'd just hope for the best! Usually I could tell who ethe no name papers belonged too. I guess I don't think consequences for that at such a young age are needed... Just constant practice.
Ooooh...I love, love, love this idea, Czacza. I'm definitely going to use it with my middle schoolers in August!
czacza, that's a great idea! I did something similar last year. I have two helpers each week. I'll say, "Mary and John will come around and collect papers with names on them. They only take papers with names!" Then the helpers look to make sure names are on each paper.
My kids were really bad at that this year as well. One thing that worked for me involved our interactive whiteboard, which the kids had nicknamed BOB (it stood for "Brain Of the Board," which was amazingly creative ). I told them that if I got a no-name paper, I was going to assume that BOB had completed it, since none of them wanted credit for it. In the corner of the board I hung a clip, labeled it "BOB's Papers", and hung no-name papers there. (They were responsible for looking through them and claiming any of theirs.) Then, we had a little competition: they earned a point for every set of assignments with no no-name papers; BOB earned a point for every no-name paper. Whoever got a certain number of points first 'won'--but I don't even remember what I used for a prize (although BOB did get a 'medal' to wear when he won the first round). They really got into it, and didn't want BOB to get credit for their work. We played 2-3 rounds, and by then the issue had really diminished. Sounds complicated, but it worked for me even after trying some of the other strategies!
Something that I've done for first grade is to tell the students to put a smiley face, star, etc by their name if they have their name written on the paper. I did this towards the middle or end of the activity. Of course, those who didn't have their name written wrote both their name and the star but that didn't matter to me. It was a way of making them check their own paper. I'm moving to 3rd next year so I don't know if that method would work for them. It might be perceived as a little babyish.
I have a little song, to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it" Put your name on your paper, put your name, Put your name on your paper, put your name, Put your name on your paper Put your name on your paper Put your name on your paper, put your name! I also like the point to your name/neighbor's name procedure.
We sing a song as the paper passers are passing out papers. The first thing on your paper is your name. The first thing on your paper is your name. Ms. ______ needs to know, Who did the work and so, The first thing on your paper is your name. It goes to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It". After the first couple weeks, the kids sing it by themselves as they write their names. By the end of the year, I only had a couple nameless papers each week.
I just comment on the nice work Mr. No Name did. The children quickly claim their work and after a few times I stop having much work from Mr. No Name.
Same problem in 8th grade. Sorry, I know you hoped it ended in grammar school. Some great ideas here! I love the songs. Hmmm... 8th graders like to be silly so a song may work for the first week or so. I have the neighbors in each group take a look and the secretaries too. If a "nameless paper" sneaks in, I grade it and place it in the "Nameless Paper" tray. If students don't claim them, out they go by the end of the marking period. If they claim one, they put their name and put it in the "Late & Missing Papers" tray and they get the grade I'd put on the sheet.
HIGHLIGHTERS Place highlighters and a pencil next to your turn in bin. Teach them to highlight under their name before putting their paper in the bin. The kids are excited to use the highlighter so they remember. If they realize there is no name to underline they quick grab the pencil and do so. I teach 1st and this eliminated the problem for me.
I parodied a Beyonce song about writing your name on your paper. The students love it and very seldom miss it because they would be constantly singing it to themselves.
Do you teach 8th grade? I do, and if they don't have their names on their papers, I give it back to them and tell them if it happens again, it gets thrown away!
No I was commenting on AussieGirl's comment. She teaches 8th and I can't even believe that happens in 8th grade. Wow. BTW-I teach 1st.
Are your table captains on your classroom job chart or do you have something you place on their desks or is it something that you just tell the class who the captains are for the day and thats all?
I do several of these things: Team Captains/Helpers check. Kids HATE when other kids have to remind them to do stuff like write their names on their papers. "Turn to the person beside you and tell them to put their name on their paper if it's blank." I walk around when I have a chance and say "Good job ___ for being the first to put your name on your paper. I didn't even have to remind you!" I also give Team Points sometimes when I see all 4 in a team have written their names.
