Fifth grade mini-office
A “mini-office” is like a little study corral. I discovered them after seeing some kindergarten teachers talking about them on one of my email lists. After looking at some samples online, I decided that the idea was clever, inexpensive and easy enough to adapt to older children. Also, since my kids will likely end up doing school elsewhere during the week of Declan’s arrival, a mini-office will enable them to take their most commonly used reference materials on the road.
So KS and I spent some time brainstorming the kinds of things she wanted to include. She considered the reference materials that she’s currently using most often. We made it our goal to simply create a mini-office that would function well for the month of January, since that will be when we really need it. If she still wants one after that, then I’ll adapt this existing design to be more easily changed each month. For example, we’ve talked about attaching the calendar using velcro dots, so we can change it each month, but KS also suggested using a plain calendar and then writing the monthly info using a wet-erase marker.
Here are two pictures of the full mini-office. We’ve got lots of space on the back and sides to add things as we need them. The back of the right side has an extensive list of prepositions, along with a shrunken sheet of monthly quickwrite topics for January that I got from Evan-Moor’s _Giant Write Everyday_ book. The back of the office (which you can’t see) simply has KS’s name on it.
Here’s an image of the left side, which includes a multiplication table, the order of operations, multiplication properties, a left-right reminder image, the first part of the Gettysburg address (which she’s memorizing), and a space for her to keep a “personal spelling dictionary”. That will be covered over with laminate paper, and she’ll write the words in using a wet-erase (overhead transparency) marker. When she feels that she no longer needs to stare at a word (hehe), she’ll erase it.
On the right side, she has a US map with capitals marked, since the state of CA says she has to learn those this year. There’s also a diagram she made with the parts of an atom, and a cheat sheet that covers things like atomic mass, atomic number, isotopes and calculating the number of protons, electrons and neutrons. She’s also memorizing the Apostles Creed, so we stuck that on there. 
In the middle is a calendar, a reduced copy of the Periodic Table (from one of the K12 lessons), a reduced copy of her cursive handwriting chart, and a writing checklist. To create reduced size copies of PDFs, I print them using Fineprint, and select the option to print 2 or 4 pages at a time, which gives me a 1/2 or 1/4 size copy of the original.
I’m currently working on creating offices for KR, and DA. DA doesn’t really need one, but since his sisters have them, he’ll want one too.
Awesome mini office there! Great Job! Bet your “student” loves it!
Linda J
Could you please share the word documents that you have used for your mini-office? I spoke to another lady and we discovered EVERYTHING we found was for pre-k to 3rd graders…
Thank you!!!
These photos are just great! I love the mini office idea. I did similar things when the kids were younger, mostly to shield them from distractions, but I never made anything as nice as this.
(I saw your link in the Lapbooking group.)
I’m looking for people to trade links with and would love to include yours on my http://www.pluggedinhomeschool.com blog about homeschoolers and technology. Are you interested?
Thanks,
Barbara
Hi
I am on the lapbooking group with you. I love your mini-office. Great job!
Chrissy
This is really nice. It’s full of really useful tools all neatly organized. Thanks so much for sharing and your pictures were clear and easy to see.
Fabulous!! I saw your message on the Lapbooking group and thought I’d pop in and take a look!! My oldest son’s name is Declan (he’s 6) so we think you are choosing a very fine name
Awesome Sharon – can’t wait to get ours designed (after Christmas!!) The spelling area will be a necessity in our house. Love this idea – thanks so much for sharing…
These mini offices look like you used legal sized folders. Am I right or are they regular sized?
Thanks!
This is such a cool idea! I love Kyla’s idea of a laminated calender with a dry erase marker. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas with the rest of us :0) I pray your delivery is fast and uneventful!
Heather
Keeper of the Johnson Zoo
Drew(7), Kaleb(5), Bekah (3), Nate the Great (1)
Great book. I think I will do this with my 6th grader. She keeps asking the same questions over and over.
Thank you very much for the post of the pics. I wanted to do a mini office with my two older children and really wanted to know if someone else had done one. I really do like the pics! They have given me a great jump start.
I have 4 children 5th grader, 3rd grader, kindergarten (official as of yesterday- when he turned 5) and a very busy 2 year old.
I will be praying for you and the arrival of your child.
God Bless You and Merry Christmas.
Thanks for all the great feedback! (Cindy in CA, I *love* your son’s name, btw! hehe)
The folders are standard sized. I worried that legal-sized folders might topple too easily.
-Sharon
Great job on the mini office! I made one for my 2nd/3rd grader this weekend while I was home sick! I plan to make one for my 7th grader with a literary theme.
Best wishes when your new baby arrives!
I totally love this idea! I too have only ever seen mini offices for K-2, and this is just encouraging me to make some for my older kids. Perfect!
Thanks for the ideas! Merry Christmas!
Angie
Where do you find the stuff for the older kid folders. My kids are in grades 3, 4, and 5/6.
Would you share the links or the resources you used in making your mini office….word docs or ????
Thanks
nancyjoz
I picked up your link from the lapbook group too! Wow you r mini office for an older child is exactly what I need! I will start looking for everything to make one for my older son… I made one for my younger son a week or so ago… he lalala loves it! Thank You for sharing such great pictures!
I would love to have a copy of your mini office materials if you don’t mind.
Thanks
[...] pictures and information: http://shadow-earth.com/archives/9 http://jmeacham.com/mini.offices.htm http://www.teachingheart.net/minioffice.html [...]
[...] http://shadow-earth.com/archives/9 – for older child http://shadow-earth.com/archives/15 [...]
I’ve linked to you on my mini offices page.
http://www.squidoo.com/minioffice
Great post!