The first day of school. Always such excitement...such anxiety...and such a long period of time it seems to just go over rules, procedures, and hand out text books! I like to make the first day of school a fun, yet structured day. I don't adhere to the rule of "Don't smile until Christmas," but I also don't want to come off as a pushover who just wants to have fun and play all day (I mean, I would love that, but I have learned from experience that it isn't the best approach with students). So, to help fill some time and create meaningful experiences for the kids, I start by having them create a pizza box portfolio.
Mmm....pizza....
Usually, that's the first thing the kids say...quickly followed by, "Mrs. E is the BEST! She's buying us all PIZZA!"
Well, sorry kids...I'm not doing that, but I am giving you all a blank pizza box that you can decorate! While they typically don't have the same reaction to this information as when they thought I was buying them all pizza, they do in general like this activity, and it has a practical purpose, too.
The idea came from my mom who is a middle school/high school English teacher. She did this when I was a student in her class (yes, I had my own mother as a teacher multiple times), and she helped me to remember that it was a really cool idea once I had my own classroom.
The decorated pizza boxes are used to hold on to important projects and papers and activities for each student. Since they are flat and only about 2 inches thick, they stack really well and are easily stored. I usually store them under a table in my room that is covered with a table cloth. Anytime we have a project that has been displayed in the hall but I don't want them to take it home and have it lost forever, I have them put them in their pizza boxes. The students enjoy getting the portfolios from time to time and going through their projects.
The best part is that the projects are all stored throughout the entire year, and then you can send them home on the last day as one giant gift for the parents. The parents will be impressed with all of the neat projects you completed, and they will be thankful for the momentos of your child's school year. By keeping projects in a portfolio, you protect those precious projects that took days and weeks of your time in class from getting destroyed in a backpack or on the bus.
All you need to complete this project is go to your local food service supply store...ours is like a food service supply and party store all in one...and buy the appropriate amount of plain, unfolded pizza boxes. I get the large size, and they end up being less than $1 each.
Because they are unfolded, you get the added bonus of a "directions lesson" by showing the students step by step how to fold the boxes. It's also a great way to allow students who get the boxes folded quickly to shine by helping others. It's a win-win-win...only to be made better if you actually got pizza out of the deal.
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