Lunchclips

I'm starting my first blog post the way that my students start their day in my classroom!  When my fifth graders enter the room each morning, they find their clip and place it in the bowl that correlates to their lunch choice for the day (HOT lunch, COLD lunch, or MILK).  These lunchclips also help with attendance since a clip left on the table represents an absent student. 

This project was so easy (and cheap) to make.  I just bought a set of plastic clothespins and plastic bowls.  I used a permanent marker to label the clips and my label maker for the bowls.  The bowls can be easily personalized to your specific preferences. 

In order to reuse the lunchclips each school year, I have used permanent marker to write numbers on each clip (instead of names).  I assign numbers to students in the beginning of the year and the number becomes somewhat of a personal badge of honor for the year. 

Want to take this project even further?  Have a student completely in charge of this station.  I have a student job that it specifically to be the Lunch Count expert.  This student delivers forgotten lunch clips to classmates, counts lunch choices, records the choices, and resets the clips for the following day.  It's a way for my students to take responsibility for the organization of our room!  Plus, I have found that the kiddos love arranging the clips into different fun shapes each day :)

So where would you place your lunchclip?