BULLETIN BOARD

I'm a Reading First aide in an elementary school, and when I noticed that one of my students who needed his glasses to see didn't always wear them, I came up with the concept of The Paul Revere Glasses Club.

To my amazement, 65 children showed up for our first meeting. Children who wear glasses are often ridiculed, so we talked about why we wear glasses and what we should say if someone makes fun of us. We also talked about how to care for our eyewear. I gave each student a packaged swab, and we all cleaned our glasses together as a group. We even came up with a signal to greet friends who wore glasses when we saw them in the hallway.

During subsequent meetings, we read a book about eye problems, brought in pictures of famous people or friends who wore glasses (Harry Potter is a good example!), and drew self-portraits that we hung in the front hallway of the school. And, as you can see in the photo, I also brought as many funny glasses as I could find for us to wear at each meeting. A simple idea, but The Paul Revere Glasses Club helped my students gain selfesteem and a vision for the future.

LYNNE SPEAKER

Olympia Fields, Illinois

Take One Box

I have a box labeled "Take One" that students can see when they first enter the classroom. If there is something in the box, students know to take one before they sit down. The box eliminates both the time spent passing out papers and the problem of placing papers at desks where no student sits when they're distributed before students arrive. This system--also increases student responsibility, and it gives students something to do or read as soon as they sit down. Even better: I no longer hear, "But you didn't give me one!"

ROBBIE SCHWEERS

Soledad, California

Conversion Clue

When I taught general math and prealgebra, my students had difficulty converting decimals and percents back and forth. To help them keep the conversion straight, I had them write "d2p" at the top of their papers. When converting from one to the other, they put their finger on their starting unit d ("decimal") and moved their fingers to the other p ("two places"). The finger movement also showed them the direction in which to move the decimal point.

LOUIS BRZEZINSKI JR.

Columbia, Maryland

Recess Passes

I like to check my students' progress as they're working, so I made up bookmark-size laminated passes to hand out to students who have finished an assignment. When it's time for recess, only those students who have their passes can go outside. I also use passes to remember whose desk has passed "desk check." Passes can be collected and re-used.

DARLENE ROKER

Los Angeles, California