Organizational Help

[jtutrone]

Help! I am looking for some creative ways to organize myself for this upcoming school year. I always end up with stacks of papers on my desk by the end of the day. I am not a super organized person by nature, but when someone shows me a good idea, I can use it and stick to it. There are so many great little tricks for organizing homework, parent notes, field trip forms, papers from the office, missing work, behavior plans, extra worksheets, etc., but I don't know what they are. I can already see the mess on my desk!!! :eek: I would appreciate any help you could give me. Thanks!!

[Krafty]

Well, I hope lia sees this, she seems super-organized (see thread about what color to use for grading papers).

As for notes and such, do you have a file drawer in your desk? If so, I'd suggest some hanging files and manila folders for starters. Have a file for each student, and notes specific to that student go there, along with behavior plans, etc. Maybe have an accordion file for collecting field trip notes, form blanks, etc.

My daughter's 2nd grade teacher this past year had a system for returning graded homework and notes that I liked. Each Monday a folder came home that had all their homework and notes for the week (including a summary of the week's lesson plans, special events, etc). I had to sign & date a form that was attached inside the folder and return the folder/form (empty) the next day. Best I can tell, the teacher filled the folders throughout the week as the papers were graded. The folder was one that was inexpensive stock, but she laminated it so the same folder lasted all year.

It kept DD's backpack from becoming a wasteland of old homework and I got it all at once to go through. The only thing I didn't like was the teacher didn't send home special notes during the week (example the principal and VP were signing yearbooks on Friday, apparently the office sent out the note during the week, we got it Monday, after the signing was over so DD's yearbook didn't get signed because she didn't have it at school that day). But overall, I liked it as a parent.

GL, I look forward to seeing the suggestions of others as well.

[melissae]

Hi!
I am glad to hear that someone's desk is as cluttered as mine. Here is something I tried last year that seemed to help me. I bought a couple of plastic stackable 3 drawer systems that fit papers up to 8 1/2 by 11 pieces of paper. I kept one on my desk and one on the file cabinet next to my desk. I labeled each drawer for the incoming and out going things that I needed to send home.
In the morning I would collect the children's folders and sort out papers into the appropriate drawers while they did a morning activity. When they have snack or during a planning period I would read notes, check in homework, respond to notes etc. This helped from big piles on my desk and really helped me to be organized.

Hope the idea helps!

[xcitednuteach]

The teacher I was with during student teaching used a 6 drawer plastic unit that was labeled for each subject. Students turned in assignments/homework into the required bin. If you want to correct math, just pull all the math papers, etc.

It was a good system and kept the clutter down.