Warm Up (Bell Work) Template

How do you start your classes? 

Most teachers struggle with staying with a consistent type of "bell work".  Last year, I had students write their daily warm-ups on a piece of paper.  I noticed that it was difficult to grade the warm-ups due to students handwriting all over the place and/or missing a class day.  I decided to create a warm-up template so that I could have an organized format for students to solve the problems.  And what do you know...it has been SO successful!  I absolutely love my warm-up template because it is extremely easy to grade and it keeps students on task.

How I Hold Students Accountable for the Warm Up
I have the same routine with my students every day.  Students always know that as soon as they walk into my classroom that they need to take out their warm-up and perform the problem on the board.  Students will have about one minute or two to complete the problem (depending on the difficulty of the problem).  I will choose a row and start walking down the aisle.  If a student does not have the warm up completed, I will skip them and they do not receive credit for day.  The next day, I may start walking down a different row.  This ensures that my students are on task because they don't know which row I will start walking down.  Students that have the warm-up completed will receive a stamp in the box that says "Completed Stamp".  (If you are busy with roll call then you can have your student aid or call on a student to walk around and stamp).

My Stamp
I purchased my stamp through Zulily.  Zulily does not sell the same items every day.  Hence, I just happened to be browsing online one day and saw personalized stamps on Zulily.  They were fairly well priced and had really cute images.  You can probably find some personalized stamps on amazon.

Collecting and Grading the Warm Up
Since my school has block schedule, I collect the warm-up every 2 weeks.  Students know that they must hold onto the warm-up and not lose it since I collect it biweekly.  Hence, I make sure to hole punch the warm ups for my students.  Grading the warm ups is not only easy but very fast.  It is easy to count the number of stamps that each student has on their warm up and write the score on the top left of the warm up.

Students that are Absent
Students that were absent and want to make up the credit for the warm up must come to me and get a new problem.  I will stamp the warm up once they complete the problem.

Again, this warm up has worked amazing in my classroom.  However, this warm up is not only used for math classrooms.  I have had feedback on this warm up from teachers in other subject areas such as English and History that love the warm up.

If you are interested in my warm up template or learning more information, you can CLICK HERE.