This is the 2nd post devoted to tips on departmentalizing in first grade. If you'd like to read the first one just click here--> http://eugeniaslearningtools.blogspot.com/2015/09/departmentalizing-in-first-grade-part-1.html Communication Between Partner Teachers This is by far, the most important aspect needed to make departmentalization successful. Truly effective partner teachers make communication between each other a priority. I have seen departmentalization fail because partner teachers do not put 100% of their efforts into communicating with each other when it comes to the needs of their students. One thing that really helped my partner teacher and I was that we were assigned the same conference period. Not only does this help immensely with schedules, but it also lends the time to visit with each other and take a few minutes to relay to each other what is going on in the classroom with the students. Here's a few conversations you may hear if you stopped by my conference period... Johnny came in this morning crying. He was very upset because... Have you noticed that Sally has been out a lot? When I asked her about it she... Morgan is really struggling with...Do you notice this too? Jimmy's mom called, she was wondering if... Do you think that may be why he didn't pass the last math test? Diane is doing so well in her reading progress. This morning she... I have had a rough afternoon with Ricky. He is constantly __________ (fill in blank) while we met in whole group. Do you have this problem with him? What do you do? Sammy has been out for a few days and I really need to get him to finish this test. Is there a good time this afternoon when I can have him come over and finish up? Because we keep each other updated on our kids, we still keep a close eye on them even though they are not with us all day. We share their triumphs and their struggles and the best part is that we go from only focusing on 22 little ones to having the honor helping 44 students learn and grow throughout the year. Staying Organized So for those of you that are in the process of implementing departmentalization in your classroom, you may have started to wonder how you are going to keep track of all your little ones' needs. Here are a few ideas... Every student in each classroom were assigned numbers, usually 1-22. I assigned these numbers alphabetically, using their last name. I trained my little ones to always put their number on the corner of every paper we worked on. This make so much things easier when you are grading, giving back papers, etc...Once I picked up papers, I quickly put the papers in order using the number, and could tell right away whos paper was missing. I kept a file for each student. So since I am in charge of teaching two sets of classes, I had two sets of files labeled 1-22. In these files I stored sample classwork, parent communication, teacher observations, etc... In the picture below you can see my purple and blue crates where I have my hanging file folders numbered to store paperwork pertaining to both sets of classes. The drawers above is where I keep any copies of any up coming assignments we may have. Another set is where I store my incomplete/ready to grade/ graded papers. They have not been labeled yet but it'll happen by the time school starts! To return papers, I used a mailbox system for my homeroom. My homeroom kids had little mailbox slots that were numbered. Because the papers are already in ordered, it took me very little time to sort them out into their mailboxes. For the other classroom, I would return the papers to my partner teacher and since they were already ordered, it was very little hassle on her part to do the same. You can see my mailboxes below in between the computers.