Thursday, July 12, 2012

Keeping Track

Today, I'm going to take a break from the Primary Pizzazz book to talk about organization.  As we get nearer and nearer back to school time, I can't help thinking about all of the things that I want to do next year.  I have a TON of resources (as I'm sure all of you do).  Sometimes, I think I might have too many! I mean, I have binders full of ideas and activities, bins in my closet that are full, 2 zip drives, my computer's hard drive, items on Google docs, etc.  The problem I have is that I'll plan and complete a unit only to find or remember that I had a wonderful activity that would have been perfect.  Don'cha just hate that?

So I've decided to spend the last few weeks of summer taking inventory of all that I have.  I bought a spiral notebook for each theme that I plan to teach this year. 


I found them for 24 cents at Big Lots, by the way (I know I probably could get them cheaper when the back to school sales start, but with all of the restrictions and limits that stores have on their "Extreme Deals", it's not worth the few cents I would save). 
Then, I got Post-it tab dividers to section off each notebook.  These are AWESOME because you can peel them off if you need to move them (which I have, and may have to again).

I labeled each one with a subject - Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Fun Stuff. 
Starting with my zip drive ('cause I'm still at my Mama's house), I began to inventory and list all of the things I have downloaded and saved, sorting them into categories.   I listed the skill that each resource addressed and where it was located (zip drive, Google docs, etc). 

After buying and starting with the notebooks, I'm thinking it might have been better to do this in a binder and record on these sheets that I created (after the fact, of course):
My Science Resources
My Math Resources
My Social Studies Resources
I hope some of you can use these.  I'm hoping that now I'll know what materials I have to use and where to find them.  Although, I'm beginning to think I should have started this project back in March!  You don't realize how much you actually have until you sit down and try to go through it.  Wish me luck!

3 comments:

  1. These forms will help me tremendously with organization! Thank you so much! :)
    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

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  2. I hate having stuff spread all over....a few years ago I confiscated the copy paper boxes and did "unit boxes" so all my things were together (books, read alouds, etc.). It's great for Math/Science/History, but I ran out of space for Grammar! I like your idea about the notebooks!

    I've left you an award on my blog...come check it out! :)

    Chrissy
    Adventures in Second Grade

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  3. I DO wish you luck! I thought about doing that very same thing, and when I got into it, I realized I was in WAAYYY over my head this late in the summer. Guess that'll be NEXT summer's goal.... but these sheets you provided will be very worthwhile then! Happy Organizing:)

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