Call Me a Nerd

I am fully and completely aware that it's only been little more than a week since I've been out of school. 

But for the first time in...the history of EVER...I am fully motivated to accomplish things for next school year. I used to call those crazy teachers who worked like mad in the summer to prepare for the following year "teacher nerds." Well, folks, I think it's time to admit that I may have turned in to one. 

I want to be super organized next year. For the last few years I've had a large orange binder with several dividers that I used for lesson plans, parent contact sheets, behavior documentation, student IEP's & 504's, and any other miscellaneous information I deemed important. Did I keep it up like I planned? The answer would be NO. Plus, I have a million other things I have to keep up with now so things had to change. 

So I am revamping the way I do things. I went out and purchased 6 white 1" binders from Walmart. I wanted some really cute binder covers so I went on a search. I'm really liking this new trendy Chevron pattern that seems to be on just about everything but I didn't want to pay for pre-made covers...especially since I wanted to be able to choose what I label each binder. 

I ended up coming across an exciting freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers - my favorite place to browse teacher stuff  (behind Pinterest of course). You can download her covers for free HERE. It is a powerpoint document with 6 different colored covers, fully editable. So I went to work. Since I don't have color ink in my printer and don't feel like paying $30+ for some right now, I took my flash drive up to Staples and printed my covers from there for about $6. Not bad for this bargain searching teacher. 

Again, with the off chance that I seem like a huge nerd, here are pictures of my new binder covers:

Here's the whole group of them just so you can see how pretty they are...lol!

My binder for Guided Reading documentation, plans, notes, etc. as well as notes on Writing Workshop conferences and information for each student. 

Finally, a specific binder for subs. It will include schedules, seating charts, lesson plans, copies, etc. 

A binder for keeping anything and everything data related: FCAT scores, FAIR data, progress graphs, etc. 

My binder for all of the Common Core standards for Reading and Writing as well as any important/helpful resources I can use. 

Parent Contact information will finally get its own binder. All the info, documentation for contact (phone calls, emails, conferences, etc.) and notes re: certain parental issues will be stored here. 

And of course, a binder for my lesson plans. Going to keep the year's curriculum plan plus monthly, weekly, and daily plans in this binder and also start attaching lesson reflection sheets so I know what worked well and what didn't. 

So, there you have it. The super-organized, slightly nerdy Mrs. Elliott. Now, the real task will be keeping this up. I'll just keep chanting the Little Engine That Could's mantra: "I think I can. I think I can."