Paperless Classroom?

This week the staff at my school received a notice regarding our paper use and a warning that if we continue to use the paper at the current rate, there will be no more at the end of the second quarter.  This really got me thinking.  Initially I got extremely worried and thought to myself, "how am I possibly going to make them have homework?"  After running it through my brain for several hours and coming up with ideas based on what I have been learning in my grad program, the end of the day statement was that it wouldn't be that difficult to go paperless.

Paperless classrooms are something of the future from what I have always understood.   I have read about Eminence Middle School in Kentucky for example who has started an experiment of going paperless.  Kentucky is not a far away country that is extremely different than Wisconsin where I teach.  Their experiment is described at http://paperlessclassroom.org and it is extremely interesting to read about.  Each student is given a palm computer and costs are cut for paper and invested in the initial cost of buying the computers for students.
This whole concept is wonderful to think about and I honestly get lost in it.  I can scan all of the "worksheets" that I feel are absolutely critical to the learning.  Students can be required to visit specific sites to practice their math facts and record their progress on a Google Doc instead of turning in a paper chart at the end of the month.  Their reading logs can be put into Moodle and sent to me weekly through the computer.  
Programs like Google Docs I have decided will be an essential part of the process.  Also Prezi, Wordle, Evernote, and Zoho challenge are resources that have popped up quite often in my research of the topic.  Without the one to one concept I do feel that this would be much more difficult.  Within the classroom I would utilize the Smart Board that I have more than ever before by requesting the remote control system for student answering.  As of now there are only a couple of sets for the whole school, but each day I have quick check ups on material I wish I had the remotes to monitor student progress.  I could gain instant access to student knowledge and have the results calculated more quickly and efficiently!  
Overall, this is not a topic that I want to forget about.  I plan on continuing to research the benefits of paperless classrooms (besides the obvious on our environment) and find what is working.  I have decided that I will change one paper aspect of my classroom each semester for the rest of the year and see what kind of difference it will make.  It is a small step, but definitely somewhere to begin. 

Resources:

anggg890. (2009) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fCDYx2Lb8 November 22, 2011.