Friday Folders ~ Returning Graded Papers

I use Friday Folders, which I inserted all their graded work into once a week. I also had a form stapled to the inside of it with columns for: Date, Missing Work, Cards Changed (discipline plan changes), a quick Comment from me, and a space for parent signature. By the end of the year, it took me about 20 minutes to do it for my entire class.

Next year I think I might also add a Proud Book idea that I got from a colleague. In the beginning of the year, have a book bound with blank construction paper for each week of the school year for each student. Then each week, students pick their assignment they are most proud of to glue into the book. They write a couple of sentences on the opposite page about why they are proud of it.

Hope this helps you generate ideas!

I also send a Friday Folder like traveler said. I am attaching the sheet I attach to the top!

I send home graded papers, stapled together, in a folder with a form in the front. The form lasts through the 9 weeks, then I exchange it for a new one. The form has columns with:
date/parent signature/discipline(E,S,N)/homework(+,-, L for late)/comments

If they get E and + I just put a smiley face for the comment. If there was an issue with discipline, I just put a quick reason ("needs reminder about excessive talking"). If they have a - for homework, I put what's missing.

I get 24 folders done in 15 minutes each week while I have recess room (we take turns having it). If we didn't have a recess room, I'd just do the folders while my kids were reading their A.R. books at the end of the day.

Our Home Folders have 2 pockets: Keep at Home & Return to School. I just send home graded work as soon as it's done:) Paperwork that needs a signature just gets put in the return to school pocket.

They also have the daily behavior calendar kept in the back of the home folder, that is color coded each day so parents know how their day was.

When there's a problem with a few, then I arrange for parent signatures but other than that I don't feel it's necessary.

At the beginning of the year I send home the info regarding our grading and homework policies. I also send occasional newsletters to keep families informed about projects, events, etc.

That's surprising that some of you don't need to send home anything. I personally like to have a paper trail. With their signature, I have proof that they know their child's grades ahead of time. They also have the option of going over any work that was misunderstood. I let them keep the graded papers so they can take the weekend or a whole month to go over them - or not at all. Either way they have no reason to be upset at report card time. Their child has "that grade" because that's how all those papers averaged. It works well for me.

I didn't realize some parents wouldn't like getting the papers. I love glancing through my own 3 children's papers. I throw away any after I go over them (if needed) and keep any that I think are extra good work to save.

I teach 3rd now, but I used the same form when I taught 4th.

Here's the form I use:

No Friday folder here! Too much work when parents don't want to look at it. Each child has a mailbox in the classroom. Papers are filed there as soon as they are graded. Students check their mailbox at the end of each day and put those papers in the right pocket of their homework folder labeled "Papers for Home". Parents know to check that pocket every night.
I had two students this year who would "lose" graded papers so they had to get their planner signed by me each afternoon and then signed by their parents each night. This is where I would put any comments about work or behavior. I figure by this age neither they nor their parents should still need such a stringent thing as a Friday Folder.

We do have a behavior program that we follow in which they earn different colored stars for their behavior. They keep track of their colors on their "star sheet" that they keep in their homework folder. This has to be signed each weekend and brought back on Monday. If it is not signed, then I call the parent just to touch base. :s)

I think it's better to give more immediate feedback for both students and parents. I try to check work and get it back same day (when possible) or at least in a timely fashion. I know as a "student" I wanted feedback right away:) That eliminates the overhwelming piles of papers.

I do something similar to many of you. I use a mailbox filing system during the week. On Friday's, our class brainstorms the highlights of our weekly activities. Students write a letter to their parent explaining what they did in school that week. Over the weekend, parents respond to their children’s letters and review the work that was sent home. We use a two pocket with prong folders; one side is stay at home and the other return to school. Each week, the student returns his/her folder with the piece of work he/she would like to put inside the portfolio that goes home at the end of the year. Parents in other classes have asked for their teachers to use these "Parent Communication Folders." It's been a nice way for students to talk about issues with their parents they wouldn't normally discuss because of their age. It's also been a helpful tool for conferencing.

My kids have a Friday Folder where they keep papers that have been corrected in one pocket and to be finished in the other. On Fridays the kids give out tests and quizzes that have been corrected. They are put in their Homework Folder with the Friday Folder papers and are sent home. No cover sheet or report. The papers speak for themselves. Parents know to expect them on Fridays. If something needs a signature (usually 60 or below), it is stamped. When it comes back, I circle the grade in my Gradebook. If there are issues, I have found it best to contact the parent via phone initially, then later, perhaps ongoing, if needed, email. I used to do the Friday reporting, but no longer do. Also we give out midterm progress reports. Parents are never surprised by their kids' grades.

Here is the form I put in my Take Home Tuesday Folders.

I have a form for my take-home folder, also. But it is at school. I do the following:

Date:____________________ Student_______________#___

Reading: ____________________ Math:___________________
Language:___________________ Spelling:________________
Social Studies:_______________ Science:_______________

Academics: Outstanding - Very Good - Good & Improving

Good - Satisfactory - Unsatisfactory

Behavior: Outstanding - Very Good - Good & Improving

Good - Satisfactory - Unsatisfactory

Comments:____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Parent Signature:_________________________

Each grade is listed and I circle the academic and behavior part. I also make any comments necessary. These forms are great to have for documentation!

We have to do a weekly assignment sheet that goes home in the Friday Folder along with graded work. The bottom portion gets signed and returned. It has the child's name, behavior report and says "your child recieved a 69% or below in the following subjects:". Then all the subjects are listed. If any papers are 69 or below, the subject gets circled. The parents signs the bottom. Under the signature it says "your signature indicates that you have seen your child's papers and behavior report."

It is a great system. A parent can never claim that they were not aware of a bad grade or of a behavior issue. This is school-wide.

I send graded papers home every Friday. They go home in a folder. I stamp each page that I want signed and returned. I mark on the inside of the folder how many papers are being sent home. I hope this helps.

Marie from PA

I send home work in our school's friday envelope. I use the bright pink stickers highlights sends that say "please sign and return" for papers I want signed. I never use them for anything else so why not recycle?:p I also have a special letter I send for when center work is inappropriate for the week or I notice a specific problem. I've attached it to this post in case this is what you're looking for. I only use it when there's a huge problem and I usually wait til the second half of the year to send it home once the kids are really clear on what's expected. Most of what goes home stays there unless there's a problem. I hope this helps!:s)

I would send home every Friday in a "Friday Folder" (one side said "Leave at Home," the other side said "Return".). The work was to stay home unless it was stamped "signed" or placed on the 'return' side of the folder.

I do send home a half sheet form for the parents to sign indicating they have seen the child's work--not that half of them actually do look at it, but they sign anyway. I do not require any of the work to be returned as we don't do portfolios and I don't want the paper clutter. I staple all the week's work together along w/ the note to be signed. This prevents all but the craftiest 3rd grader from "losing" papers they don't want Mom and Dad to see. For some reason, most 3rd graders don't figure out that they could tear the paper out of the stack before showing it to the parents. I'LL never tell! Anyway, parents sign the note and tear it off and return it to school.

At my school, every teacher sends home a folder on Mondays. When parents sign, all they have to put is the date and their signature. I've never been too worried about forging or dishonesty.

Pros:
- Parents in every class know to expect the folders each Monday.
- It's great for communication about grades.
- Parents can use the graded material to review with their kids.

Cons:
- Folders need to be sturdy or laminated. Otherwise they will need to be replaced at least once during the year.
- Because it wasn't graded, I would have some students just not bring back their folders until really late in the week. This year I'm going to give them until Wednesday, and then there will be a consequence. I understand that the parents have to sign it, but many times the students would say, "Oh, I left it on the counter."
- Sometimes it can be time consuming to stuff all of the folders. I had a volunteer in my class who did it for me.

I love sending home graded papers the same day every week. Parents know to look for them, and the kids get into the routine of asking them to sign. I send mine home on Friday, but other teachers use other days. Just stay consistent if you can.

My sheet includes a + or - if they did homework all week, and E,S,N,U for behavior. Then there is a space for comments. If they misbehaved or missed homework, I write the specifics there. Otherwise I usually draw a smiley face in the comment section. Then there's a space for the parent signature. I date it myself.

There really aren't any cons to it - it doesn't take long to do - I usually do it during my planning time on Friday (I don't schedule conferences on Fridays), and it takes about 10-15 min. to do them all - that includes stapling the graded papers together.

On the outside of the folder (plastic works best, but paper will last about half the year) the kids write their names and numbers on the top right - and GRADED PAPER FOLDER in the center. Then underneath that I have them write due back Monday.

Use the prongs for the signing form. Make sure you give a short direction at the top of the sheet. Parents need to know if they're supposed to keep the graded papers, or return the folder with the papers still in it. I always ask them to go over the papers with their child.

I use one form for each 9 weeks, and I save them in my file cabinet. There is never a question about what a child's grade is because the parent has seen all their papers before report cards! :)

I send my folders home on Tuesdays. This gives me enough time to get the quizzes and tests, etc. from Friday graded and the folders organized. I am attaching a copy of the label for the folder and the parent sheet for inside for you to see what I do. Mine are just yellow pocket folders.

My girlfriend gave me this idea a few years ago and I have been using it ever since. Every Friday (I think I might change it to a different day of the week this year) They get a folder with their graded work, up coming projects, and a Sheet that holds 4 weeks worth of comments. Each week there is a box for Behavior, Classwork, Homework, and a comments section. At back to school night I explain to the parents how I mark each box. I use a smile face stamp if they have handed everything in, behaved well, and kept up with classwork. I will use a straight faced stamp if there was one homework missing, etc. If there was a problem I write a quick note in the box as to what was missing or misbehavior which is very short - talking during lessons, etc.(I hate the frown face stamp!) The first week I write a note in each of the comments sections but usually after that it is once every few weeks... and it is short and sweet... Had a great week!, What a wonderful project! Well done!, something like that. The parents know they can write back in the comments section as well and are expected to sign each week. I count is as a homework grade on Monday to bring back the folder. The parents love this and the kids know that I have no problem writing misbehavior in the folder at the end of the week and it helps keep some of them in line. They are thrilled to have all smiles. I keep the graded papers organized during the week, I use the mailboxes everyone discussed in an earlier post. The kids look in their mailboxes to see grades on tests, etc. but know they must remain until Friday. It takes about 15-20 min. to write out the comments section for all of the kids. I usually have my gradebook right next to me to check for missing /late assignments. When a page is full, I pull it out and put it in the child's folder for conferences. The way I had it set up was in a regular file folder. On the left side, I stapled 12 or so Week at a Peek sheets with the childs name preprinted on the top (used the computer to make a class set and then copied them) I would just staple all the papers together and put it in the other side. The folders lasted all year and were actually in pretty good shape at the end of the year. At report card and conference time there are absolutely no surprises and everything is documented. :s)

a few years ago our school went to a school-wide monday folder system (which i whined about but now LOVE).

we are given plastic folders (WAY too "floppy" for me!) to use if we wish, but about 1/2 the teachers use their own folder.

i use those 2-pocket folders (the kind that were .10 at Walmart, .07 at Target, .01 2 weeks ago at Staples--now .05 at Staples....). i teach 6th grade and they last the entire year! (at semester time, i reinforce the fold with packing tape.)

one pocket--important information (weekly trackers of behavior and work ethic, my newsletter, school newsletter, and other "junk" and spelling "fridge list"). other pocket--graded/finished work.

on front--label with date and 1 or 2 of the most important notes parents need to know.

i had parents sign the front (label) of the folder for only the first month of school (as a parent myself, i think about what i want parents to HAVE to sign--ick), and i told them they didn't need to sign because they'd be in the habit of looking on monday and that everything they needed to know would be there....etc. but i had so many parents ask me "stupid" questions...."When will..." "What is the assignment...." that if they had looked through the MF, they would know the answer to! so this year, i'll have parents sign every week.

i don't punish kids for parents not signing (unless the signature NEVER shows up, then i'll make a point to say i want to see the signature or no recess next week).

about 2/3 of the school year worth of labels fit on the front of the MF, so i then paste a sheet of copy paper on the front of the folder and start putting the rest of labels there. (i don't want parents to have to turn the folder over to read them.)

I send home a homework folder each night and a Graded Papers Folder on Wednesday.
My homework folder is the plastic kind w/ 2 pockets. On the left hand pocket I place a label that says:"Keep at home" this is the side that the students place all of their daily classwork to take home each day.
On the right hand side I place a label that say "Please complete and return to school". This is the side that their homework goes in each day.
We (all the first grade teachers) also have a vocabulary folder on this side of our homework folder. We take file folders, cut them in half, laminate them, and put the 2 prong fasteners at the top. Our reading series- Scott Foresman has vocabulary sentences each week and what we have done is copy the sentences down so that you get 2 sets on a piece of paper (sideways). (We took turns copying them down and now they are stored on our computers at school for easy acess.) A parent runs them for us each week and we cut them in half and attach them inside the vocabulary folder so that by the end of the year all vocabulary that has been taught is right there for them-and we remind parents often to go back and review b/c they are responsible for all words taught during the school year.
My graded papers folder is sent home on Wednesdays b/c we have several Mondays off during the year but very few Wednesdays so this keeps me organized :).
I staple a page on the left hand side that has a space for date and then 3 or 4 lines for comments from me or for the parents to use. Most times I just place a smiley face stamp or Good Job stamp here unless there has been a problem that week. (ie I may say "Johnny had trouble with the phonics portion of his test, please review the test before next Friday").
On the right hand side I have put 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th nine weeks at the top of a page and then I have a grid that has a place for date, Reading Grade, Math Grade, Spelling Grade, Science, Social Studies, Health, Handwriting and Homework. At the end of the line is a place for parent signature. I send home their tests each week (except for unit tests, they must make an appointment to come look at these).
I replace the pages each nine weeks and I save the used ones. Every now and then you get a parent who comes in at report card time and says well I didn't know that my child was having trouble and I just have to pull out these sheets and say, but you signed each week.
If a student forgets to get it signed I usually highlight the parent signature box and the parents will usually sign the following week.
Hope this helps

In my weekly folder...

A weekly progress report that goes home it includes:
Grades
Behavior
Comments
Parents signature

Parents see this everyweek...it may seem like a lot but I would rather have the problems up front rather than at the end of the year and the parent was clueless...

I am big on communicating with parents! My motto is I would rather them see me versus the Principal or school board :)

I send all graded work home with my students on Mondays. (That way I have all weekend to grade Friday tests.) I don't use a folder though. I just staple the papers together into a "packet." I also staple the weekly newsletter to the top of this packet along with a slip/form (one third sheet of paper) that has space for me to list any missing assignments from the week and a place for the parent's signature. I ask the students to return the slip on Tuesday, but do give them one day's grace till Wednesday. At that point I send an email to the parent (if they have given me one) or I make a quick phone call to ask if they have received the Monday packet. I've had very good comments about this system.

I also made "planners" for the students to write daily assingments. These planners had space for me to write any comments about behavior or for parents to write to me with concerns. I checked the planner each morning for parent comments and each evening to make sure the students had filled in their assignments. They were not excused from the room until the planner was filled out. Parents are required to sign the planner nightly. This was a tremendous help in keeping lines of communication flowing. And I think it was beneficial to students in learning how to be organized. I made these home-made planners for each grading period. Trying to make one that would last for the entire year is pretty futile. I understand that this year our school will be purchasing planners for all of our 4th graders. That will save me a lot of time in copying and stapling our home-made models.

I include behavior on my Friday Graded Paper Folder. It is very basic - E, S, N, or U. This is how it is:

E - no infractions for the week (warnings don't count as infractions)
S - 1-2 infractions
N - 3-4 infractions
U - 5 or more infractions (which also means an office referral)

Sometimes I'll jot down the problem (ex: homework) - but they should already know since it's on their behavior chart that goes home daily. Unfortunately, the parent doesn't always initial the daily behavior chart, so this gives me a record that they're aware of the problem - even if it's at the week's end.

I send home my Friday Folders with the signature page taped to the front. Then I send home a weekly progress report with it. I attached the progress report below so you can check it out. They are a bit more work, but the parents really like them.

I send progress reports home on Monday, too (folders with graded work go home every day). It gives me more time to do them and then parents don't have to spend weekend time on it. I include the following on each week's report:


Test scores for the week with all tests stapled at the back.
% correct on AR (which is 1/4 of their reading grade)
How many of the reading, math, and spelling homework assignment were turned in (ex: completed ___ out of 5 assignments)
Behavior (E, S, N, U) for the following areas: responsible, focused, polite to others
Reminders for parents (picture day, field trip forms, stuff like that)
Comment line for me to add notes
Parent signature line

We send home folders on Friday, or sometimes Monday if we got behind. On the front of the folder is a behavior chart. It is divided in to rows for each week of the grading period. Beside the number of the week (like Week 1) there is a row of smiley faces. At the bottom, below the last row, there is a chart that lists the class rules. It is numbered. If a child breaks a rule that week, a smiley face is marked out. On the right side of the page, at the end of each row, if a comments box. If a smiley is marked off, in the comments box I write the number of the rule broken, the date (in numerals) of the infraction, and a more specific explanation of the offense if necessary. The parents sign the chart each week.