Doing my best to be organized!

I've done a binder for years, but this year I've taken it to a new level.  My binder is my life line.  It goes home with me every night, sits on my desk during the day, and gets toted to every meeting I attend. 

I have dividers that have pockets in them so that I can tuck things in for reminders or for safe storage until I can punch holes in and file it.  This year I added a pencil pouch to keep post-it notes, pencils, grading pens, my ezgrader, and whatever else I'm using.

My tabs are constantly adapting to my needs. I have tabs for:

• Calendar - I've printed off a blank calendar (I'd put the link on but I don't remember where I printed it from).  I took our county's school calendar and transfered everything to mine.  I also use it to keep track of meeting times and as a record of situations. I've also printed off the school calendar and placed it behind mine.
• Lesson Plans - This year I've stopped using the traditional lesson plan book and I now use a Word template to do my plans. 
• Standards- I keep all my state standards handy and close to my lesson plans.
• Grade Book - Again, this year I've stopped using the traditional grade book.  I've printed off blank tables and keep grades here.  They eventually go into our computer grade portal.  I have smaller tabs within this section dividing my subjects and class blocks.
• Office Notes - This is where I keep any memos that come in from the principal's or central offices.  These just keeps them easily accessible.
• 4-H - Our 5th graders participate in the 4-H program so I have a tab to keep up with their memos, assignments, etc.
• Schedules- This has my class schedules, our encore schedules, cafeteria schedules, and various other schedules that are needed through out the school.

Like I said this is my place to organize my most essential and daily needs. 


I also have come up with an organizational method that keeps my student papers organized.  I was so tired in the past of trying to separate papers that need to be graded.  So a couple of years ago I bought an achordian file folder and labeled each section with a subject.  This year I've upgraded to a nicer and sturdier plastic one.

Each section is labeled for a subject that I teach.  At the end of the day, I collect papers from my baskets in my room and put them into their corresponding section.  When I've graded and recorded a set of papers, I put them into the back 2 sections (according to which block they belong to).  The next morning I take the graded papers and put them into students' mailboxes for them to file into their binders.  I love this method.  I RARELY ever misplace a paper, and I can quickly find any set of papers that I'm looking for.