You learn so much after your semester of teaching. Things that you thought you would love didn’t work at all. Procedures that you thought were fool proof left gaps. Paperwork gets more unorganized than you could have imagined, even in a digital world. After figuring all of this out after my first semester in my own classroom, I knew I had to implement some new procedures to make my life easier. That’s when I got the idea to use slips to help me and my students stay organized: Absent Work Slip, Missing Work Slip, & Late Work Slip. I call them slips because I can fit 3 on a piece of paper. I print and cut them out and they’re ready to go.
Four years later, I’m still using these! At the beginning of the year when I go over classroom procedures & expectations, I introduce all of these slips. I show students what they look like, tell them how they’re used, and show them where they can be found in the student supply section of my room. When the time comes to start using them, it takes about the first week of true school work for them to get used to it but after that it’s just part of the routine. They truly save me time and headaches of trying to keep up with things in my brain or on random sticky notes.
An added bonus of using these slips is that administration and parents always love them. During evaluations and yearly check ins, principals always ask about your classroom management plan and how you’re meeting the Danielson framework. These slips fit right into those categories! When it’s time for parent phone calls or parent teacher conferences, you can tell them about these slips so they know you’re doing everything in your power to help their child succeed!
You can download these 3 free classroom management slips in my TpT store by clicking here or on each of the headings below.
The first of the 3 slips that I use in my classroom management plan is the absent work slip. This slip helps me stay on top of absent students and the work that they missed. I take attendance at the beginning of each class while my students are completing their bell ringer. At this time if I see anyone is absent, I’ll grab an absent slip off the front folder on my desk organizer (I keep them here so they’re nice and handy). Normally, I only have time to fill out the top part of the slip at this time (their name, the date, and the class). I’ll leave the slip on my desk and finish filling it out later on in the class hour or after the class ends. On the bottom of the absent slip I’ll write a short summary of what we did that class. For example, it could say: “Bell ringer question. Project due. Video notes. Kahoot review. Canva infographic.” If there are any paper copies of materials the student needs, I’ll staple them to their slip so it’s all together for when they get back.
Once the slip is filled out, I put it in the absent folder in my student section. When the student who was absent comes back to school, he or she will check the folder and grab their absent slip. They’ll come see me and we will decide on a due date (typically I give them however many days they missed). I’ll write the due date on their absent slip and they keep it all and complete the work. The bonus of this slip is that when the work is done, they will actually turn in the absent slip with their work. This way I know that they weren’t just late with the work and don’t take off late points, OR if they do turn it in past the date we agreed on, I can take off the proper amount of late points. It’s a win-win.
Teachers are often perfectionists who care so much about their job and students, so it would be nice if those students turned everything in completed and on time. However, we know that doesn’t always happen and that missing work, though we dread dealing with it, is something we have to handle in our classrooms. In attempt to help students hold themselves accountable for their work, clear up any end of the semester “What am I missing? Can I still turn it in?” questions, and cover myself when it comes to administration and parents, I give students with missing work a missing work slip. If they have multiple assignments, I’ll write down if it was on paper or on google classroom to help them remember what I’m looking for. There’s not a lot to this as the slip simply states their name and then lists the work they are missing in my class.
I try to hand out these sips to students twice a month. As students are working, I’ll just walk around and give the ones who have missing work their slip. They know what it means as we’ve discussed it at the beginning of the year. If they have questions about thinking they turned something in or what something is, they can find me in free time and we can talk about it together.
The last classroom management slip I’ve developed to help save my sanity is the late work slip. This slip is completely student sufficient. When someone is turning in something late, they’ll go to the late work folder in the student supply section of my room & grab a late work slip. It’s their job to fill it out and include their name, what the assignment was, when it was due, when they’re submitting it, and why they are turning it in late. I like to have them put the why it’s late down on the slip because it helps hold them accountable and recognize that its nobody else’s fault that their work wasn’t submitted on time.
When the form is complete students will turn it in to my turn in tray. If the assignment was online, they’ll just turn in the form. However, if the assignment was on paper, they’ll staple the form to the paper and turn it in together. This helps me know to either go back into google classroom and look for a late assignment and how many points to take off their total. My policy for late work is 5% points deducted per day that it’s late. This goes for anything – projects, group work, homework, class practices, etc. It gives them 20 school days to turn in their missing work. After 20 days, I don’t allow them to make up the work anymore.
I hope these slips can help you keep your classroom organized and student sufficient like they have helped me. Once again, you can find these all for free in my TPT store here. They download into Microsoft Word so you can tweak them to meet your specific needs if necessary.
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