The Perfect Teacher Binder
Happy Monday! I wanted to stop by today and share one of my very favorite teaching tools, my teacher binder!! I just made one for my best friend, so I snapped a few pictures to show you how I set it up! 🙂 Since I am staying home this year to focus on my family, and this little blog of mine, I made these pages for her! All of them I have personally used and LOVE and I hope she does too!
All of the forms in this page come from this binder but you can find other styles here! Let’s dive right in!
I have always chosen to keep one big binder, but lots of people choose to have multiple! This picture is from Adventures in Second on Instagram! Her feed is ADORABLE and it’s her very first year teaching!
If you don’t have a binding machine, I totally suggest it! I got mine at Office Depot! You can also get things bound at Office Max/Office Depot for super cheap! I bound a Gradebook for Brittany. I’ve always had a very transient group of kiddos, but if your class list is pretty consistent you could add their names to save you even more time! I’ve also seen people print on Avery labels! 🙂
Last year, I bound my Guided Reading notes! It worked GREAT and I always had them right at my finger tips.
Speaking of Guided Reading, I have always had my own binder for Guided Reading. You can read more about my Guided Reading time here. Since Brittany doesn’t know her groups yet, I made this blank page for her! She could add post its since groups are flexible or print out a new page as kiddos move groups! Since the binder is totally editable, you could also add/delete groups by adding tables! 🙂
I also printed more pages that she could write on! 🙂 I keep dates of important testing windows, school nights (Open House, Meet the Teacher), etc and anything else you want to quickly have on hand!
I also think long-term planning is super important to make sure you’re hitting the themes that you want to!! Fortunately, Britt is like the most organized human on the planet, so she probably already has her long term plans through 2025!
Each year, I would type these up for all of my kiddos on IEPs or 504. We have an amazing Special Education teacher and she would do this for teachers too! I left Britt’s blank since she doesn’t know her kiddos yet!
There are SO many websites and programs to keep track of, so this page is perfect to keep in a binder! I would just make sure not to put confidental info on this page in case it fell in the wrong hands! 🙂 For example, I wouldn’t put hte password for our online gradebook in case someone else got a hold of my binder!
There are so many different ways to keep track of “to-dos” but this system works great for me! I always have my list with me, and it doesn’t require a lot of printing! 🙂 I made this for her so she can easily add new sticky-notes as she finishes the task!
Since Brittany teaches 2nd grade in Texas, I printed the 2nd grade TEKS for her! I think it’s SO convenient to have these on hand during PLCs, lesson planning, and more!
Jumping ahead a bit, these forms she will complete once she gets her final class list and gets some contact info from their parents! Since the binder is totally editable, she can just type her info into Powerpoint super fast! 🙂 I was watching Friends when I made this example, if you can’t tell! 😉
This page would also be completed when you get your list. Each time I get a new student, I reprint it with their name but you could also totally write it in! It’s super important to me to get my new student info as soon as possible, so I can make sure they get to participate in everytihng I do for the rest of the class!
The best tip I can give you is find a system that works for YOU!! If it doesn’t fit you, your classroom, and your style it won’t be as helpful! 🙂 There are SO many options and ways to set up a teacher binder…and I hope this post gives you a few ideas! 🙂 Have a great week friends!
