Do you get overwhelmed by all of the paper we deal with every day? I know that I do! I have to find a way to manage it so it doesn't pile up around me! I can't stand piles of papers everywhere. (I am a little OCD when it comes to organizing!)
My answer: this $25 cart from Sam's Club!
It has been an answer to prayers when it comes to paper! I used to have a slotted file holder on my desk to hold everything... but then it was all still on my desk! I had to try and look over it when visitors would come in my room. I just didn't like it.
My cart has been great! I have a separate drawer for each topic that I used to have a folder for.
My drawers are labeled like this:
-Important Papers-this is for anything that I need to save and have on-hand. I keep notes from my principal, log-in information, and any important documents that need to be at the ready.
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To Be Filed-this is where I keep any extra copies at the end of the day, handouts, originals, etc that need to be filed, but I don't want to take the time to do it right then. I then spend the 15-20 minutes needed to file them all about once every week or two.
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To Be Graded-this is where I keep all of my papers that need to be graded. As students hand in papers to our folder system, I paperclip them and put them in this drawer. When I am ready to grade papers I either take the whole drawer out or grab the stack and stick them in my teacher bag to take home.
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Grades to Enter-this is where I keep papers that I have graded, but have not had time to enter the grades yet. I will often grade a few, stop, grade a few more, stop, etc. So, this is a central place that I can keep those random sets of papers until I am ready to enter them into our online gradebook system.
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Monday through Friday- This is where I put all of the copies, teacher books, supplies, etc that I will need for that day of teaching. When I prepare my lesson plans for the next week I file things into the drawers as I find and plan for them. When I get my copies back (we have to send off our copies to a central office to be made) I file them into the appropriate day's drawer. Also, anything that we do every week (like on Mondays we always do a vocabulary foldable) I can keep those in the Monday drawer at all times.
Upcoming Weeks-the bottom drawer is then for anything that I plan in advance and know that I will need in the coming weeks, but not sure what day of the week or when exactly I will use it. It is copies of lessons or tests that are coming up soon. I can then go through the drawer and pull those when needed to put in the appropriate day of the week drawer later.
I also have a file holder attached to the side. I picked it up at Mardel. It is the perfect size to fit the side of the cart. I have a variety of folders in it that are handy to have close, but that I don't use everyday like IEP's, Referrals, Testing Info, etc.
