Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Food for Thought: Bell Ringers

I do like using bell ringers - you know, those little writing prompts or activities at the beginning of class that get kids thinking about what they'll be doing today (while you're taking attendance and juggling 4 million other things); but it took me a while to find a system for them that I really liked.

I started out with the students writing them on notebook paper. This was useless. Either you have to collect a million pieces of paper a day, or they lose them. Even if you say "Keep the same paper all week; put it in your folder" or whatever, it's doubtful that will help. Then of course the paper itself is torn, crumpled, spilled on, chewed on, whatever.

So when I moved to binders, I placed a little packet of bell ringer sheets in with everyone's syllabus, etc:


This worked so much better! Clean, hole-punched paper that stayed in the rings. Beautiful.

Downsides: It wound up taking a good bit of room up in the binders. I was confined to boring lines and three sentence responses. I had to keep track of how many should be recorded every time I graded. I had to keep a list of the prompts handy for weeks after they'd been used. 

Then I moved to folders, and decided I wanted a weekly sheet that they would keep in their folders. I would graded folders every week, and this sheet would be removed from their folders every week. And I didn't always want to be confined to boring lines and three sentence responses. So I came up with these:


Each week had a different little food icon at the top, different shapes throughout the page, and the variation allowed me a variety of prompts. I would give the students blank ones like the one above, add the prompts to the page and project one each day:


Love this system! I used them in every class, not just Foods (though I of course changed out the title of the class). It provides a lot of flexibility, and is fun to boot. Check out these happy guys:


I know, I know: you're now irresistibly drawn to these and are thinking "Man, I've gotta make some awesome bell ringer sheets like that." Awww shucks, thanks! But don't. I'll be putting over a semester's worth of these bad boys up along with a ton of other new stuff as part of a very special bargain by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

Update: Packets of these bell ringer sheets are available in my TPT store if you're interested.



9 comments:

  1. I would love to use these bell ringer sheets, but I have not been able to find where you posted them.

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    1. Hi there!
      They are available in two places. 1) They are part of a special fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am offering a bundle of over 100 resources (including 24 of these sheets) in exchange for a $25 donation – details are in this blog post: bit.ly/FACS4TNT. 2) They will be added to my TPT store later this afternoon – not nearly as good a price per unit, but if you’re only interested in them and nothing else the total is less.
      Thanks for reading!

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  2. Am I able to still purchase these because I am new to teaching culinary and looking for all kind of ideas so if they are please email me any thing you have or tell me where I can get it coachgarland@hotmail.com or myoung5@ebrschools.org

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  3. I bought these before school started (I donated to the Leukemian & Lymphoma Society). My students really like the bell ringer sheets so far. Since I am on an A/B schedule they last me 2 weeks. They like to doodle on them in too :)

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    1. Hi Laura,
      Thanks for the kind feedback, and for the donation! I'm glad they are working out for you.
      Good luck with the new school year!

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  4. Is your FCS bell ringer still available for a donation?

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    Replies
    1. Hello! Yes, the donation bundle is still available! All of the details of what is included as well as directions for donating are in the post at bit.ly/FACS4TNT.
      Thank you for reading!

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  5. Is the FACS bundle still available? I tried to donate and it will not accept donations.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vickie! Yes, it is still available! They change the URL every year and I always miss one or two of the places it's at to edit.

      My LLS donations site this year is bit.ly/CAP4TNT19. Leave a $25 donation (100% goes to blood cancer research) and a commment that includes "FACS," and I'll send it your way. :)

      Thanks for reading!

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