How I Stay Organized with My Teacher Binder

Organization is something I have to work at. My desk begins the day clean and organized, but by the end of the day, it looks like a dumping ground of papers, books, markers, pens, etc. The only thing that keeps me sane is my Teacher Binder. The one place where everything has a home. Finally, I can go to any meeting and feel prepared.

My excitement for my binder has been re-energized lately one based on a happening at school:

Last week my principal walked into my room and informed me that she needed me in a meeting later that afternoon to discuss a student. I had a quick second of panic thinking, "Uh oh...what do I need to bring with me for this student?" I wasn't sure so I grabbed my Teacher Binder that holds everything from meeting notes, student data, to student behavior. We were meeting about a behavior incident with this student and as soon as I plopped down I open my binder and turned right to all the documentation I had done back in September about this student's behavior. "Whew," I thought. At least I had SOMETHING to go by, and I had completely forgot it was there. I ended up not needing to refer back to his past incidents, but the fact that I had it made me feel better.

Similar situations have happened over and over where my Teacher Binder has saved my boo-tay-tay as far as being in a meeting and needing to refer back to a handout, etc. so my love-love relationship with my binder has grown, and grown, and grown.

Another reason I'm loving it is a recent addition I added to my binder. For my birthday we went to Dave and Busters and with my winning tickets I picket out a binder-insertable sticky note assortment (picture above). Isn't it fun? Am I the only one who gets giddy over sticky notes? I hope not!

If you'd like my Teacher Binder you can have it too! Click on the one that you like and it'll take you directly to my TPT store.

 If you decide to make your own you may want to consider the following categories:

-Calendar (Insert your own calendar, or your district calendar)

-Meeting Notes

-Team Meetings (for those who co-teach or have common planning time)

-Grade Level Meetings/ Co-teaching meetings

-Parent Communication (Communication Logs, Contact Info., etc.)

-Parent Teacher Conferences (To hold your sign up sheet, schedule, reminder slips, notes, etc.)

-Volunteer Information (Room Parent Sign Up Sheets, Contact List, etc.)

-Lesson Plans
-Student Data

-Common Core (Standards, Checklists, etc.)

-Professional Development

-Behavior Notes

-Classroom Information

-Emergency Forms

-Book Orders (I have letters to parents that has the Scholastic class code that I keep in this section)

-Important E-Mails (Some e-mails just have to be printed, but I always lost them until I started sticking them in this section)

-Notes (I use this section to keep a running to-do list, ideas for next year, etc.)