By this time of year, I have collected quite a few documents
of varying degrees of importance.
Ranging from the most basic (an updated birthday list for my class) to
more specific (who is allergic to peanuts or has an inhaler?). Instead of keeping all of these things in a
folder simply called “important papers”, I decided to be a little more organized this
year. I bought a 3 ring binder (1/2 inch
was the perfect size) and made a cute cover page with my name and class on it
to slide in the clear plastic cover.
Then I developed a set of dividers to help organize all of my papers and
information. (Feel free to use the set I
made below!)
I put these into plastic
page protectors and then put them in the order that I use them in my
folder. Finally, I went through all of
my documents, records, and papers and put them in my folder, behind the
appropriate section. This has become a
lifesaver! It sits on my desk during the
day so, at a glance, I can easily locate a child’s reading level, see who has
an upcoming birthday, or verify who is a parent pick up on Friday. At the end of the day, my binder goes in my
bag so I have email addresses, behavior records, and growth charts at my
fingertips at home. In addition, this
serves as a GREAT tool for a substitute!
No more frantically trying to remember all of the important “stuff” to
tell a sub at the last minute....I just tell them to refer to my binder! It has worked wonderfully and I just wanted
to share in case you have the same pile or folder of “important things” that is
quickly growing out of control! If you
are in need of a set of high quality organizational forms, please check out my
Beginning of Year Teacher Survival Kit! It is HALF PRICE for the week!
Happy Teaching! Jen
