Teacher Binder

With this year being my first year teaching, I really want to start out on the right foot and try to keep myself as organized as possible. In previous posts I discussed some ways that I am trying to do that such as creating my teacher toolbox. Today's post is going to be dedicated to showing you all how I created my teacher binder for the upcoming year.

I have seen several examples of teacher organization binders all over Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers, but I could never find one that fit my needs perfectly. Basically, I took some ideas that I loved from a few places and made my own binder from the things that I found.

To get started, I bought a 1 inch 3-ring binder. I knew that I wouldn't be filling a huge binder so I chose to go with a small size and if I need to I can always get a bigger binder. Next, I made a list of some sections that I wanted to include in my binder such as passwords, calendar, lesson plans, grades, attendance, and parent information. Through teacherspayteachers.com I found the following editable teacher binder that included most of the sections that I was looking for: The Ultimate Teacher Organizer. Lucky enough for me it was also decorated with my school's colors. If you are not a fan of this color scheme, I believe the seller of this item will create it in the colors of your choosing if you simply ask her!

Now getting down to business.... There were several things in this organizer that I knew that I would not use (or didn't know how to use), so I started editing a lot of things to make them my own. Below I will include the pictures of my binder and the sections.

Front Cover

First Section

Second Section

Student Birthdays (in calendar section)

 Academic Calendar (in calendar section)

I tabbed each month with Post-it tabs.

Third Section

Fourth Section

Fifth Section

Sixth Section

Seventh Section

I wanted to be able to flip to each section easily so I decided to put the section label pages in sheet protectors to easily flip back and forth.

The next picture is of a blank checklist that I found on Clutter-Free Classroom's blog. The following link will take you to her Teachers Pay Teachers site where you too can download these incredible blank checklists that come in a variety of prints and patterns and are also available with not only blanks for student names but come with student numbers also: Multipurpose Checklists.

The most fantastic attribute of these checklists is that they can be used for such a variety of things. With these checklists there is no longer a need to buy a gradebook! Simply print them and you are ready to write in student names and assignments and begin giving grades. You can also use them to keep up with student attendance and absences. Even better, you can use them to track discipline. All you need to do is develop codes for student misbehavior and next to the students names you can write in the code of their behavior. These checklists are a priceless tool to have for classroom management and organization.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing how I organized my teacher binder and that you all have been inspired to make your own! Have a blessed last few weeks of summer!