Work Box on Steriods

Shane and Nigel's Weekly Work Box System.I finally came up with a weekly work box system that fits my busy life style.  For over a year now, I have been contemplating using a work box system for Shane and Nigel, but the thought of having to refill the boxes "daily" was too daunting.  So I came up with a system that incorporates a work box system and a weekly assignment board.   I have to confess it did take some time to get everything up and running like I envisioned it, but the rewards far exceed the hard work. I will try my best to explain how my work box system works in hopes my journey will inspire you to take the plunge. Weekly Student Assignment Board. You will need one per child.

As you can see from the picture of the student assignment board above, Shane and Nigel's week are full of planned activities.  At any given time, I can see how they are progressing on their daily and weekly assignments.  Another great thing about the student boards it is teaching Shane and Nigel to take responsible for their own work.  Every morning after they finish their morning household chore they go to upstairs to our classroom and start their school work.   The far left hand column tells them where to find their assignment.  For example, if there is picture of a computer they know they need to go the computer to complete the task, a picture of a work box means their assignment is their individual work box and etc. The next five columns, which represent Monday thru Friday, details more of what they are suppose to be working on.  In our case, Friday will almost always be blank because, Friday is our field trip/fun day.   I tried to make their board very user friendly, clear and concise.   My goal was that they would to be able to look at their board and know exactly what movie, computer program, Ipad app or book I wanted them to work on. 

Once they finished, they put assignment tag in their respective bowl.

Their finished work that needs to be graded goes in their respective orange trays. They place their assignment tabs in their respective colorful boxes. I keep all my unused assignment tab in the white crate behind their colored bins.

 Within a few days, Shane and Nigel both had master this process.  To make my life a little easier, I made my weekly planning sheet mirror their boards.  Also it is important to me that  Shane and Nigel get a full range of daily work box assignment.  Looking at their assignment board you will note their assignment tag start with various letters.  The letter help make sure my basis are covered.  The "A" represents Critical Thinking," B" Hand On Activities, "C" represents independent reader, "D" represent file folder games and "E' represents  handwriting. The numbers following the letter really don’t mean anything, but allows me to prep in batches.

My weekly planner. (One sheet per child is needed)

Several weeks of worth of activities at crates ready to go.

Crate full of critical thinking activities already prepped and ready to go in their work boxes.

Here is a copy of my activity log, detailing what I have prepped, what crate and what bag it is in.

In a later blog, I will share more on  the activities that I have prepped and are ready to go.