Report cover binder bars

Do you have any of these gems laying around your classroom?!?!

I was in chatting with a teacher down the hall (who happens to be my son's teacher!) and I saw these... I will call them binder bars... laying at one of her centers with some picture cards.  My interest was spiked and I had to ask her.  Her idea was so simple, yet I loved it so much!

Here's how she uses them...

She calls the game "Out You Go!"  She puts 3 picture cards in the binder bar.  The students look at the pictures (these happen to be rhyming words) and they have to pull out the picture that doesn't belong, saying, "Out You Go!"  It's a great lesson on categorizing and Wade loves the game, as do the other students, I'm sure!

You could totally use the idea for many different concepts in your classroom at many different ability levels.  Here's just a few:

- number sentences
- spelling practice with letter cards
- sentence building with word cards
- sequencing with story parts
- sorting environmental shapes
- alphabetizing with word cards
- ordering numbers from least to greatest
- building decimal numbers
- place value practice (draw the place values on the bar itself so students can build the numbers)
-  ordinal numbers
- sorting verbs, nouns, adjectives, and other parts of speech

The ideas are endless!  Bonus: students also get some fine motor practice when putting the picture cards back in to reset the center for the next round. 

Thanks for the idea Mrs. B!  Love ya!