Did you ever think about using those worksheets for Do Now Activities in the morning?

Those used worksheets can be utilized all week to teach or reinforce learned material or review. They can be used for different activities such as writing, reading comprehension, vocabulary building and more.

As teachers we have a tendency to copy lots of worksheets that are use only once. As I wrote in a previous article we know that Do Now Activities are very important in setting the tone of your class and establishing your class as one where students come to work and not waste time and goof off.

By utilizing used worksheets more then once it eliminates a lot of extra copy work and in turn saves trees. When teachers utilize used worksheets it enables us to show our class that even this small activity can impact the ecology by:

saving valuable budget money for paper
saving energy by not running the copy machine
saving money on repairs of the copy machine
saving money by not buying toner
setting an example to students on conserving resources
most important we are saving a very important natural resource trees

One of the easiest ways to start being a resourceful teacher in the area of reusing worksheets is to start using them for vocabulary building. Once a worksheet is used have the students make lists of nouns, adjectives, verbs or any other form of vocabulary lists from the worksheet. Once these lists are made you can do the following activities:

using a list of nouns have them divide the list into common nouns by person, place or thing. Using the same list have them divide them in proper nouns and give you the common noun that goes with the proper noun.
Using the list of adjectives have them partner the adjective with a noun to describe it.
using adjectives have them write synonyms, and antonyms for each one
using a list of verbs have them write the verb in different grammar tense then us in a sentence.

Even if you are teaching a foreign language these activities can be used:

if you teach Spanish have them use these lists for translation activities
then have them use the words in sentences
have them convert those sentences into the past tense or future test.
if you are using verbs have them write those verbs in the form of the eight pronoun for example hacer; yo hago, tu haces, el hace, ud. hace and so on.
if you are using a list of nouns have them divide the list into common nouns by person, place or thing.
Using the same list have them divide them into proper nouns and give you the common noun that goes with the proper noun.

Using the list of adjectives have them partner the adjective with a noun to describe it.

These are just a few activities to get you started there will be more to come. Just wetting your teacher whistle. Happy teaching.

Written by a veteran teacher of 32 years who hopes to give new teachers tried and true strategies that work. Come join me at http://www.squidoo.com/resourcefulteacher and look for the educationfiary.