Papers, Papers, Papers

          It is so easy to drown in paperwork when you teach every subject, every day.  A teacher friend from Georgia asked me what I did to keep the papers organized each day so it doesn't look like a paper machine has exploded on my desk.  Sadly, I am a neat freak and you could ask any of my students and they could tell you that everything has a place and everything must stay in it's place if we are not using it in class.  Life just runs more smoothly that way!  Below are some things I use to make sure I stay as organized as I can with just a few minutes each day to manage the paperwork.  I hope these tips help someone! :)

This organizer is sitting beside my computer.  I have a file folder for each unit that we are currently studying.  I started out color coding the subjects, I know- it's silly, but then by the end of the year, I started running out of certain colors, so their all mixed now.  :)

This basket is for papers to grade and sits behind my desk so that it's hidden away and I have a place to just place papers that we collect and it's out of the way.

The picture above is our drop box.  In the years past, we have had problems with students just laying notes on my desk or coming to hand them to me in the mornings when they got to school.  To rememdy the problem and make mornings more calm, we created the box, via Pinterest, and anytime students have a note for me such as a parent note or an excuse for an absence, they put it in the box and they leave the lid open so I know there is something in it, otherwise it stays closed.

Any weekly assignment that is completed each week or monthly task, like Book It, is placed in the cart.  Every tray is labeled and it sits up front.  We have a tray for our weekly spelling task, the weekly review sheet, the weekly math minute, a tray with notebook paper for any student who forgets paper for the day, etc.  This has been a huge time saver and keeps everything seperated, organized, and neat and everyone knows where their work goes each week!

This is the student mail station.  Every student has a number and they write that number on every assignment they turn into me and there is a basket on top where we place graded papers and Take-Home folders, once they have been checked and they are ready to be filed.  We send Take-Home folders home each Monday and they must be signed and returned by Wednesday or students have detention until they have been returned.  This usually is not a problem.