Binder-ize Me!

Warning: long post!

So I gave myself two major projects to complete for school this summer:

1. Create my blog. Check!

2. Organize my life. When I say my life, I'm referring to my classroom life.

(Obviously this list of two things has grown into a list of 12 things, as all teachers will understand)

Let's just start with this list for now...

My previous method of organization was file folders. Ugh. I hate them.

They're simple because you can just throw things in a labeled folder, and it's not time consuming whatsoever. In my first years at a new school district I felt like this was all I had time for. However, I can't express to you the complete dread and anxiety I felt every time I even looked at these file folders, let alone opened them.

So at the end of the school year I did what I had to do. I took all of the papers out and threw the file folders AWAY! No seriously, I really did that. Nothing left but a stack of paper chaos. I knew if I took it to that level, there was no going back.

First I considered plastic tubs, but I don't have the space at home or at school for that. Plus I imagine it turning into a larger version of the file folders. :(

I decided to BINDER-IZE.

Binder-ize: verb - The act of taking disheveled paper and organizing it into binders based on a targeted skill or content area. Usually with a cute cover sheet give it character.

Well that's my definition anyway.


Here's what I have so far...

Here's the lowdown on the chevron cover sheets. If you go on Teachers Pay Teachers you will find a thousand products that let you edit and print your own cover sheets for teacher binders. I loved them, but I couldn't stop thinking about how much ink I was going to use making 10-15 of these babies.
So here's my solution:

Michael's sells this beautiful colored card stock in packs of 50 sheets. This week they're on sale for $3.33 PLUS your teacher discount. You can however find them fairly often on sale for $2. There's your chevron. :)

Now I haven't put anything in them yet, but I plan on using page protectors to place master copies and workstation pieces. I'll give an update when they're done.