Homework Strip & Friday Flashback

I'm not sure when there will be the next Monday Made It, but I wanted to share something I started making last night and finished today: Homework Strip.  I'm not sure how you all deal with homework, but for my class, things have gotten a little out of control.  Math homework is the problem.  I don't give a grade for math homework, but I do expect every student to complete their homework every night.  It is super hard for me to figure out who turned in homework and who didn't without it taking several minutes.  I don't have several minutes to waste!  One of the 4th grade teachers introduced a genius system for collecting homework.  Her mom was a classroom teacher before becoming a principal and came up with the idea.  All you need is 2 poly folders, fun duct tape, a ruler, sharpie, and scissors.  Check it out:

Basically, the students find their number on the homework strip, and just slip their paper under their number.  When all homework has been turned in, all I have to do is slide the homework papers out of the strip in one swoop.  The best part: they're in number order!!  The homework strip also allows me to quickly see who has/has not turned in their homework.  Here is a picture with homework:

I need to make a slight adjustment on a couple of the numbers, but that's an easy fix.  If you'd like to see how to make one for your classroom, I'm including the link to Katie's blog: Cardigan Way.

I've also decided to implement the Homework Black Book.  Some of my students seem to think that I don't realize that they're not doing their homework.  We're going to TRY to put a stop to that misconception.  If students do not do an assignment, they are going to record their name, the date, the assignment, and the reason for not completing the assignment.  THEN, they're going to do it during recess.  One student said it wasn't fair, but my rebuttal was, "Is it fair that I stand up here and teach you all day, but you can't complete a homework assignment that takes 10-15 minutes?"  He said, "Oh, never mind."  :)  I'll give an update of how it's working in a few weeks.  Moving on...

I'm joining Amanda's (Teaching Maddeness) Friday Flashback linky party.  I'm not really sure if what I'm posting qualifies, but I figured I'd give it a shot.  Today in science, we were continuing our unit on Forces and Motion.  We had a whole-group experiment where the students needed to make hypotheses and observations about what they thought would happen when I let a Hot Wheels car roll down a ramp, and then what would happen when I added more weight to the car.  The only problem was that our ramp had "speed bumps" and the car kept tumbling down the ramp.  I got the genius idea to use a clipboard and pop-cubes to make a smooth, flat ramp.  Well, at least I thought it was a genius idea! :)  I love when the students are able to figure things out by experimenting and making observations instead of reading a text book.  After a few "trials", most of the students were able to understand that because of the extra weight, the car gained speed going down the ramp and was able to move faster and farther.  Woot!  Here is a picture of my make-shift ramp:

P.S. Be sure to view yesterday's entry to watch the music video we made at my school.  AND, let me know what you think!!  Study Maybe!