People… we have less than THREE week until I’m back to school! Three more weeks of the prepping madness, and then it turns into an all out tornado during our Teacher In-Service week. :)  Of course, that’s in between teacher meetings and gab sessions with the other teachers, you know.

Part of my goal in ALL my Prepping Frenzy is finding ways to get things organized minutely and looking cute and fabulous.  Is that too much to ask?!

I loved this Pinterest pic… So funny because it’s so true, ha!

A trick for organizing the onslaught of daily materials {and, of course, I made it cute!} I picked up from my mom is Binderizing. I love keeping all my master copies in a HUGE, ginormous, behemoth binder.

Everything is there at my fingertips for easy pulling and copying as I need it.  I had hoped to run masses of copies off this summer and have them filed away, but that has NOT managed to happen.  Looks like I’ll be working that into my weekly or monthly routine.  :)

I have the removable post it tabs dividing by subject across the top.  It’s hard to tell in the pic, but this is the tip top of the binder…

Then they divide by chapter, etc along the side.

I call it uber-organized.

You may call it a sickness.  :)

I also like my Answer Keys kept by subject in individual folders.  It works so much better for me than filing them in with my other masters in the huge binder OR in the filing cabinet with the student copies.

When it’s time to grade a quiz or test, all I have to do is grab the correct folder!  I can also throw it in my teacher bag easily and take it home for grading.

Uh, not that teachers ever have any take home work though, right?  :)

I use a 2 pocket, 3 prong PLASTIC folder for each subject.  Right now they are about 50 cents each, and they will pretty much last FOREVER, unlike their cheaper paper counterparts.

I punch holes in all the Answer Keys and put them in the 3 prong part.  That leaves the two pockets for something AMAZING!!

This trick saves me SO MUCH TIME!

Seriously.

Every Friday after I’ve done my lesson plans for the upcoming week, I pull out ALL the papers, worksheets, quizzes, tests, and study sheets I’ll need for the following week.

I paper clip them by item and put each subject’s stack in that folder!  When it’s time for any subject, I grab the Teacher Book and the Folder and I’m ready to go with everything I’ll need for that subject.  No going into the file cabinet repeatedly, day after day!

I’ve seen lots of people organize materials by DAY, but I really love the Subject method!

Are you ready for some PRINTABLES?

Here’s a Binder Cover for you for K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th.  If you want to add your name, just open in ribbet {which I L-O-V-E!} or picmonkey and customize away.  :)

And here’s the Subject Labels… for 4th grade subjects as well as a set where I took out the “4th” so there’s no specific grade.  Just open in Word and add a text box to customize with your grade level.

A little bit of preparation goes a LONG way in the classroom, and knowing where your materials are and having them organized and handy makes a huge impact on the stress of your year!

Binderizing and separating into subject folders works great for homeschooling too, by the way! 

Stay tunes for lots more Back 2 School Printables coming soon!!  You can also check out what we’ve done so far… Classroom Ticket System & Multiplication Memory Chart.

The first day of school will be here before we know it, ack!  Last weekend we went school and uniform shopping for Haylee, and she was flying high from the euphoria.  :)  As we were exiting Target, she sort of hung her head and said, “Aw… it’s oooover!”

Funny girl!!  I know how she feels about being excited getting new supplies.  I got a super cute ceramic owl pencil holder in the dollar spot as well as a small rug that says Hi! among other things, ahem.  That dollar spot is dangerous especially during back to school season, right?!  :)

What’s YOUR favorite way to stay on top of ALL your materials?

Isn’t it SO frustrating not to be able to find a resource when you need it?  Or worse yet when you run across the perfect activity AFTER you’ve already taught that content?!!

Linking up to…

Weekend Bloggy Link up, & Five Days Five Ways. You should check ‘em out!!