Organizing Some Teaching Materials

At the beginning of the year I shared a little bit about how I keep some of my teaching files organized. Keeping things organized in a way that works best for us is a never-ending process. As the weeks go by, things change. We get more students. We print off about a thousand more worksheets and games. What we tried before isn't working as well as we want it to. So its time to try something else. That is the key to organizing...finding what works best, even if it takes a bagillion tries. (Think Thomas Edison thoughts)

So I decided to get some of my games and teaching aids a little more organized. I already had this expanding file, and I was already keeping all of these same things in it. But sometimes it was hard to find what I needed, and I was often forgetting about some of the great resources I had. I wanted to be able to see at a glance what all I had available.

So, I added some file folders to the expanding file. I labeled them with bright colors (because I {heart} bright colors) and presto! It made a world of difference!

Now I have it mostly organized with one pocket for teaching aids, one pocket for games, etc. The front two pockets hold some miscellaneous things that wouldn't fit as well in a folder. I can easily see them, anyway. I found that adding the folders made everything fit into the file better, and it became less bulky.

Now all I have to do is glance through the file, take out the game that I am looking for, and pop it into my students folder to take with me to the lesson that week. Phew, isn't lesson planning hard??? :)
So rather than, "Umm, just a minute.....I have this great game I want to play....it was right here last week.....it really is a great game, you'll love it.....ah, here it is! Wait, wheres that other part....." You get the picture. This has made planning out my lessons much easier!

I have two other expanding files with teaching things in it, only they are the half-sized ones. I don't think they make half-sized file folders! Anyone have any other ideas??

Have you been doing any organizing? I would love to see how you keep your teaching aids and games organized and easily accessible!