What's your label?

     The 3rd quarter just began for our school district and, while I love seeing the growth and progress that my students have made since the beginning of the school year, I do not love doing report cards.  I think a big part of it is just that I have more students this year {24 to be exact!} and this OCD girl takes forever to finish those lovely little summaries for each of my kids!  I am seriously neurotic making sure I checked everything off and filled in the correct boxes and number of absences & tardies, assigned the right grades to the right child, etc.   It is MADNESS!  Thankfully, I finished my report cards, had them turned in for checking & approval on time, and got a compliment that they were neat & thorough.  Woo-hoo!
     One of the things that has made report cards much easier for me is using labels to type comments.  We still do handwritten/paper report cards and writing through 5 layers of paper for 24 students is not my idea of fun.  Using labels to type in comments for each of my students allows me not only to write more about each child in the tiny comment space that is provided, but it also saves me some major hand cramps.  Seriously.  I use address labels {30 per sheet} and simply type in my quarterly comments for each student and then print out 2 copies of the labels {one for the master copy of the report card and one for the parent copy that is sent home}. It looks more professional as well.
     Another way I started using labels this year is for making notes about students during lessons.  I keep a clipboard on my desk and attach 3 pages of shipping labels {10 per page}.  I write each child's name on a label so that it is ready whenever I need it.  During our lessons, I will grab my clipboard and just make a few notes about certain student's progress/strengths/weaknesses with the subject material and follow it with today's date for record keeping.  I definitely do not get enough time to do this with every student every day, but I try to make notes at least twice a week.  It's a great visual so that I can see which students I have a lot of information about and which ones I need to get to know better.  When the student's label is full, I simply stick it on the back side of one of the guided reading papers for that child and put it in his/her file.  Now I have some great documentation for parent conferences, referral meetings, and my personal teaching information!
     How are you using labels in your classroom?