EXTRA CARDS  Do you have daily attendance cards that need to be sent to the office? Elaine Bacsa of Miami suggests that you make photocopies of the cards as soon as you receive them. Put the copies in your substitute folder so that subs don’t have to look for yours. The extra set also comes in handy if you misplace a card.

EASY BORDER  Decorative borders for bulletin boards can get expensive, so Bronx, N.Y., fifth-grade teacher Ruth Lyons uses adding machine tape to do the job. The tape comes in long rolls, is inexpensive and is perfect for decorating. Lyons has students measure the boards and decorate the tape throughout the month in their art center.

IN THE RED  When displaying a number line that includes negative numbers, mark the negative number with a red line to indicate numbers “in the red,” suggests Irma Sturgell, a building resource teacher in Highlands Ranch, Colo. This will help younger students distinguish between the positions of positive and negative numbers.

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