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I love hands-on activities for my students, especially for small groups and independent practice. It takes a lot of time to print, cut, and laminate activities, but it's worth it if I can keep them to reuse in future years. However, as I made and accumulated more activities, I quickly realized I needed a system to keep all of those materials organized. I love an organized classroom; clutter stresses me out and I hate wasting planning time digging through things.
I didn't want to use hanging files for my small group activities because most of them had smaller pieces that I also wanted to keep with it. For example, I had a weighing station that called for things like glue sticks, dominoes, and other classroom items for students to put in a scale. I wanted to be able to keep all of those things together so I could grab it and it would be ready to go.
Boxes take up too much space, especially if they are large enough to hold student worksheets, and they can get expensive.
These pocket file folders are perfect! They are large enough to hold manipulatives, cards, etc. while also storing any accompanying worksheets.
I put student worksheets in a folder, which goes inside the pocket file, so everything is together. I store the file folders in crates on shelves, but you could put them in a file cabinet.
Whenever I'm needing students to practice a specific skill, I just look through the files and see what I already have prepped. It saves so much time and I love having tried-and-true activities at the ready.
Until next time, keep teaching with heart and passion!
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