Hello friends! Let's talk about brag tags.
So, this was my day:
That was a little over 700 brag tags. And I'm sure I've already prepped that and more before today. And...I'm probably not done. But I'm excited about these, so that's ok, right? (Asking for a friend.)
I wanted to share some things I've learned about using brag tags and hopefully give you what you need to take that leap, if you haven't already.
Laminate
Yes, they need to be laminated. But, it doesn't matter if it's that thin stuff on the big roll at your school or the good stuff from your home laminator. I print mine on regular paper. Typically, I laminate them at home because it's easier for me. The ones I did at school with the flimsy laminate held up just fine.
Hole Punch
The 3 whole punch is your FRIEND! My hand would not be able to hand the single hole punch for this many. Using the 3 hole punch, you get 3 done at once and move faster (without killing your hands). It really doesn't matter if the hole isn't exactly in the center. The kids won't notice (or so I tell myself).
Storage
Being totally honest, last year was the first year I used brag tags. I didn't have a fancy storage system. I used rubber bands to band like ones together and threw them all in a gallon size zippy bag. And guess what? It worked.
This year, I'm getting fancy. I couldn't help it. I searched all over for one of these puppies. I found a ton online, but I needed to SEE it, for real, in person. I finally found this one at Northern. Home Depot and Lowes have them online. And some more honestly, if I couldn't find what I wanted, hubs would have lost the ones he has in the garage for nuts and bolts.
I would recommend getting one with wide and narrow drawers. Pictured above is a wide drawer. The narrow ones will hold about 3 pages of brag tags cut up and the wide ones will hold about 18 pages of brag tags cut up (yes, I stuffed mine to the limit).
Student Storage
My students have a necklace. No, they can't open the silver beaded necklaces and put the tag on their self. Yes, it can be a pain, especially if several students have a tag at once. But, I made it work. I've seen that another option is to give the students a notebook and let them glue the tag in it. Then they have a brag book. (and that would eliminate laminating and hole punching, hooray!)
I hung small command hooks in their cubbies to put their necklace on. They all held up the entire year and are ready for another year.
Here are some up close pictures of some of my brag tags. Yes, I have a lot. Yes, I'm still adding more. Yes, I may have a little problem. I figure if I see that I'm not giving them out like I really want to, I can choose one behavior tag and focus on it for the week. I give the academic tags out as each student reaches that goal. If I don't do it right then, I know I will absolutely forget. The kids really get excited about these. Especially on the days I let them wear their necklace to lunch and they can show what they've earned. Last year, I really felt like this had a positive impact on my classroom. I'm excited to see how it goes this year. If you have any questions, let me know!
