less-paperful classroom

In my fifth grade classroom at John Rogers Elementary we go through an inconceivable amount of paper. The students are constantly losing important worksheets and handouts. There is not much that the teacher can do to prevent this. No matter how hard she tries to drill it into their heads not to lose something, or about how wasteful and unsustainable their practices are, the students still just do not get it. Is their another way to prevent this wasteful use of paper? Perhaps some schools have found a route to avoid such waste. Paper is cheap, and it doesn't make much of an economical impact on the school budget, but more and more schools are reducing the amount of paper used in class for assignments and handouts by going electronic. Schools are developing online assignment submittment as well as forums where students can go to chat about difficulties and questions they have about the assignment. They can chat with peers or easily email or chat with the instructor as well. This increases teacher-student involvement as well as student-student involvement. It also helps students to become more clear on their assignments and leaves them with fewer excuses for not completing their assignments. "My dog ate it" and "I left it at home" no longer become valid arguments as the assignments should be submitted electronically before the due date. It also reduces the need for other paper needs, such as parental newsletters and progress reports. It also guarantees that the parents will receive these notices, as students often neglect to give them to their parents. Of course, there are limitations as to where this can be practiced. In low-income areas homes may not have Internet access or computers. This would cause inequities due to socioeconomic status in the less-paperful, electronic classroom. Unless the school can guarantee that everyone have an equal shot at succeeding in this environment, it should not presume that everyone is connected to the web. However, as home computer and Internet access increases, it leave a glimmer of hope that one day this practice will become much more common and perhaps leave the classroom that goes through paper on rate that nears the extreme as archaic.