Student Work Mats

A few years ago, my school was almost doubled in size with a huge addition and renovation.  All the kindergarten and first grades got to move into brand new rooms!  We even got to choose our own furniture:)

So, first grade went old school and choose heavy wooden tables with the cutest little wooden chairs.  We love them because they are heavy and sturdy and they still have little cubbies for supplies like our old desks.  But like any table, we had to figure out what to do with the nameplates.  If they are taped down, every time you move a kid, it's a hassle and leaves all the sticky residue on the tabletop.

My team decided to make individual work mats for each kid.  We used our favorite nameplates and a piece of 12 x 18 construction paper.

 The nameplate is from Trend and can be found HERE.

 Secure the nameplate to the construction paper temporarily with a couple of pieces of tape.  We overlap the paper about 1/2 inch.

 Run the whole thing through the laminator and there you have it!

Now, when a kid needs to move, it's simple - they just grab their work mat and go!  This is great for temporary moves like group work, or a kid who needs a quiet, personal space for a short time.

The mat also gives a child a nice defined space to work.  This helps some of our more 'scattered' friends!

After several months, some of our work mats are a little battered.  I just cut the nameplate off, attach it to a new piece of construction paper, and laminate it again.

We have a high transiency rate at my school, so the class list that I have today will probably look much different on the first day of school.  While I want  to be oh-so-prepared and label everything, I am hesitant to do so because half of the labels will need to be changed by the second day of school.  I waffle between writing names on items before or after laminating.

If I laminate before, I have to make frequent changes.  If I laminate after names have been added, the names eventually rub off.  For the last couple of years, I have just waited to introduce the work mats until the second week of school.  Then my class roll is a little more stable. 

So what's your take on labeling and laminating?  Before or after?

~Nikki