Mini Office Weblinks

These past few weeks I have been buried in text books, school supplies, teacher manuals and websites. I have spent most of my time planning and prepping and organizing for this school year. We officially ended last school year on the 8th of this month. I decided it was time for a break and I really needed some time to plan and regroup. Our official start date for this school year is the 29th of this month and I have a lot of things to get done in order to be ready.

Something I want to implement this year are mini offices. A mini office is basically a reference folder that is folded similar to a lapbook. They can cover any subject and can be as in depth as you need them to be. I am planning on making one for math, language, Bible, and a kindergarten one for Little G with the basics. The kids are really excited about these and I really hope this helps them remember concepts in a more concrete manner as they use them. As mine are far from finished, I have no pictures for you, yet. But I can tell you what I am putting in them and point you in the direction to make your own if you want to.

The math office is what I am working on right now. Here is a list of what I am putting in it at his point. I might add more as the kids learn new concepts like the Pythagorean Theorem and the Fibonacci Sequence.

• addition, subtraction, multiplication & division fact sheets
• coin values and how many to make a dollar
• pi
• Roman Numerals
• number line
• polygons and geometric solids
• types of angles
• greater than and less than
• measurements and their abbreviations
• place value
• perimeter, area, and volume

There are a lot of resources for mini offices out there. Here is a list of some of the better ones I found.
Busy Teachers Cafe - This site has several pictures and links to printables. I really like the language printables they have. Seriously check it out even if you don't do a mini office because the way they describe how to write a paragraph is very cool.

Meacham Mini Offices - This teacher has pictures and links to the printables she uses and also describes how she uses them in her classroom.

Teaching Heart - This site has so many different examples and links to the charts/printables they use for many different subjects and levels.

abcteach - Most of the printables on this site are for members but there are two for fractions and grammar that look really nice that are for free. Plus instructions on how to put a mini office together.

Mini Offices Squiddo Lens - Jimmie has a great lens on Squiddo with several links and pictures and a great description of what a mini office is. Seriously, check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Mini Office for Mom - Heart of the Matter online has a great post about mini offices and I love that Amy suggests making one for yourself. I might just do that, instead of the home binder that I never seem to use.

I hope that gets you pointed in the right direction if you want to use a mini office in your school day. Or even for homework if you don't homeschool This could be a great help for any child.