Fluency Clocks

Student reading fluency is a regular timed event around these parts. I used to use one-minute hour glass timers that the school provided. The kids loved them but tended to play with them. Sometimes shaking them so badly that some became 30 second timers due to sand loss.

Several years ago, I found these adorable flower clocks with a bee on the second hand. Kids love them, can't hurt them, and learn clock reading at the same time! I use them during Workshop as a fluency activity. Kids partner up. One person reads aloud while the other listens, watches the second hand, and times the reader for one minute. Then they switch jobs. They  read the same passage a total of 3x each, trying to pass the number of words read each time. 



If you look closely, you'll should see the bee on the orange clock.

I was ready to pitch the old plastic basket. But I saw a scrape of green plastic tablecloth, left over from covering my cabinet, and thought I'd put it to good use. Voila! A little double stick tape and a matching ribbon - a new basket. I suppose I should give it a label. We'll see. What do you think? Label - no label?