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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Organization - Monthly Binders

Maybe your filing cabinet is like this....



or maybe it isn't. I know there are certain times that my files have been less than beautiful, and even if they haven't been overflowing like this picture I admit I have often had a drawer or shelf full of loose papers that needed my attention. I hated seeing the piles or messy files. 

Besides being a teacher I am also a wife and a mom to three wonderful kids. Sometimes balancing all of my responsibilities can be a bit of a challenge. One of the things I have learned over the last 9 years of teaching is that I must be organized. I love ways that help me complete my teaching responsibilities quickly and efficiency so I can spend the rest of the day with the people I love the most. 

Over the years I have tried a number of different methods to keep my teaching world organized. Finally, last year I while searching Pinterest I came across a number of posts about binders. I saw binders based on themes and subjects...I liked these but I would have needed a bundle of binders. Not really a great solution for me. With a little bit of research I found the ideas of monthly binders.

I started looking into the binder idea and planning for it. I bought a number of binders, one for each month (August through May). I started designing covers, printing and collecting sheet protectors. I printed out my covers and slipped them into my binders. I decided which subjects I wanted to have in each binder. Printed those and placed them in plastic sheet protectors. 

The really fun started at this point. I went through my messy files and pulled out one of the things I needed and used. I place each master in the correct binder behind the specific subject heading.

As a teacher your time is precious. No one wants to spend hours and hours printing and copying files that you use each year. At the start of the month I grab my binder and head to the copy room. In a single afternoon I can get all of my copies done without the stress of looking for each of my files. Once the pages were printed I kept them in my filing cabinet by subjects. I reuse the same folders over and over again.

Need to plan what lesson comes next? No problem. I grab my single binder and my reading group lessons, math lesson and task cards, science lessons and everything else is right at my fingertips.

Setting up the binders took a little bit of an investment in time and materials, especially with buying the binders but it was completely worth it.

I gushed all year about my fabulous binders that a colleague and friend of mine asked me to create binders for her cowboy themed classroom. I was happy to oblige.
Look how cute they turned out!



Of course once I saw hers I wanted to update the covers of my own binders. Luckily for you both are now available on my TPT store.

For the cowboy flair binders click HERE

For the cartoon mouse, aka Mickey, binders click HERE.

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