Filing and a Freebie

Today I wanted to talk about all those loose worksheets that seem to accumulate over time.  I believe that there's no point in sending each page home as they are done because they get lost, and parents get a bit overwhelmed with all the little pieces of paper that come their way.

 Way back in the dark ages, when I started teaching, photocopiers were common, but money to buy resources was not.  So I got used to photogopying a lot (I mean A LOT) of worksheets etc.  This meant a lot of loose paper to deal with.

  So what I started to do was to make little folders and 'file' the worksheets by subject.  This makes them very accesible if I need them for assessment, and it organizes the paper into little packages, that are easy for parents to look through with their child and see what is going on in my class.  When I started teaching I didn't have a lot of money, so I made the folders out of sheets of 12 x 18 inch construction paper.  I fold the paper in half on the long side (hamburger style for those of you 'in the know')  I write the child's name and subject on the front. and keep them all in a box.

 

 I still store them in little cardboard boxes. The ones that the notebooks come in are perfect for this. Below is a photo of my filing system. I know it's not perfectly pretty, but it works great. I'd like to offer up my filing covers as a freebie!  Feel free to grab copies of my filing system photos.  

In this photo you can see the folders and the worksheet in the box in front.  Once in a while, when the papers pile up we do a class sort.  I pass out all the folders in one box and the kids put them on their desks.  Then I start passing out the papers and the kids take them and put them on their desks too.  It takes 5 minutes to do a box.  I don't do all the boxes at once, but I do 2 or 3 at once.