The Great Organizational Project: storing binders, breakouts, and more

I think that organizing your materials is super, super important. My Great Organizational Project that
I undertook after my first year of teaching was the single best thing I did all year. It has saved me so much time and continues to do so.

There are a lot of folks who write about organizing their stuff in the classroom.  Martina Bex and Angela Watson both really helped me figure this out for myself. But remember- before teaching, I was an opera stage manager, and an exceptionally organized one!
Why I organize my stuff:

• I mostly teach with a particular curriculum (SOMOS) 
• I want to spend as little time looking for things or prepping as possible. 
•  I want to be able to grab what I need (e.g. I have a great follow up reading that talks about that thing that came up in class, or I have a song activity that I found on the interwebs that is perfect for tomorrow because this kid sang it today, etc.) quickly.
• I want a place to collect things that I find from the internet.
• I want a place to keep notes about what did and did not work.
• I want a system to collect reflections.  

Things to consider when thinking about your own organizational system:

• As you are planning (if you do such a thing), how do you think about your units/strucutures/whatever? Do you group them in your head? This is important for consistency.
• If you are totally non-targeted, you probably still use movietalks and other digital resources, and you would probably benefit from organizing them.
• How would you like to keep track of ideas that you find on the interwebs? 
• How would you like to keep track of homerun activities and stories? How are you going to collect your reflections?  

FIRST STEPS  
I decide what to call things FIRST.  My units are called Unit1-Dice, Unit 2-Camina o corre, after the unit titles the curriculum designer gave them.  Everywhere that I have materials they are called the same thing.  It is HUGELY important.  




Materials that I use for paper organization:

• small lidded boxes (from IKEA) that are big enough to put file folders in
• binders 
• page protectors
• vertical file folders and file holder
• large zip lock bags
• Paper copies of the basic outline of activities to write and reflect on.  

In a binder:
Each unit is divided by a labelled, tabbed divider with a pocket.  
Each unit has:  

• The basic outline of what I am going to do.  Here is an example.  (Feel free to make a copy and use it).  Note that it has a LOT of space to write notes on.  
• All the handouts that I am going to give to the students for me to have on hand.
• Directions or explanations for games and activities as needed. 
• In a page protector (I like the ones that take 25 sheets at a time), all the master copies: things that I want to copy and pass out.  This may be readings, song activities, assessments, etc.
• A post it note (if I think I need it) to remind me of where I put the manipulatives.  
• I make a (very, very simple) cover and vertical title to go on the vertical binder edge.  I use the exact same name.  I also made an index. Yes, this took time, BUT the payoff is that I truly know where things are supposed to go.  

Binder cover

Index in a page protector at front

In the vertical file folders  

• Input based games that involves manipulatives.
• I make a file folder for each game and call it [Unit name +game name], e.g. "8-Chain reaction".
• I usually make games and put each set in an envelope or small zip-lock with a label, and then put those in the file.  

In lidded boxes: Novel units 
I found that I needed to do something different for novels because I had a lot more going on for novels, and they usually needed more space than a binder.  This is where large zip-lock bags come in.  I also use lidded boxes for my breakouts.  More about that later.

Lidded boxes from IKEA, with labels

• Novel sets if they fit.
• All the manipulatives, by chapter.  Sometimes these are just clipped together by binder clip with a post-it note (but each game set says "Esperanza, cap. 7, timeline" or whatever it is) and sometimes I will keep stuff in a large zip lock.  My naming protocol for novels is [title, chapter, activity name].  
• If there are special props that I don't want in the general prop box, I put them in the lidded box as well.  For instance, I have a three little pigs unit and those costumes are *NOT* in the general use box because I hand made the wolf costume.  
• I still have a binder with paper and plans, kept with all my other binders. 

In lidded boxes: Input based stations
If I am going to take the time to create input based stations, which are hard to prep, I want to make sure they are grab-and-go.  I keep stations in large zip lock bags with all the paperwork.

• Masters for copies that need to be made, in page protectors,
•  Folders with station materials in each.  

In lidded boxes: Breakouts and Breakout supplies
It took me a while to figure out how to store breakout supplies.  This is what I finally came up with.  Note: When I do breakouts, I create enough materials for teams of kids to compete, so I need 4-6 copies of all the materials, plus pens, tracking sheets, etc. for each team.  This is how I decided to organize it:

• Large zip lock with small baggies of team supplies: UV light pen and hint cards
• Large ziplock with envelopes for disposable team supplies: stickers or tickets, tracking sheets, scrap paper
• Strong bag with locks, ring binders with combos for every lock, divided by breakout, and extra keys.  
• Extra large zip locks with game folders, labeled by game.
• Plastic folder with master copies of team tracking sheet, teacher forms, etc., my uv pen
• Page protector with all combos, all lock directions.
• I keep the locks inside the box, with a tag of the CURRENT combination.  

Notebooks in Evernote 

You can read more here about how I deal with electronic files.  If you don't want to do so, here is the TL:DR.

• Dropbox folders: electronic copies of everything  in folders with the same name as I used for the binders, including downloaded videos from youtube.
•  An evernote notebook to keep track of things that I find around the interwebs that might connect, even loosely (the tag function in evernote is amazing), 
• Youtube playlist for video resources- all with the same name. 
• iTunes playlist for "Class songs" by class AND a Master Class songs playlist.  
• I have not taken the time to be super organized about google drive, because if I find something I love there, I just download it (in a perfect world) and save it to my dropbox.  

THINGS THAT DON'T FIT UNDER UNITS HAVE THEIR OWN BINDER and/or DROPBOX FOLDER (OR TAG)

• General games (mafia, circumlocution, etc.)
• Forms that I use all the time (freewrite form, password collector, missing work form, absent student tracking, etc.)
• Beginning of the year: Things that I only use during the first weeks of school, like my syllabus, my cuaderno set up instructions, form for parents, personal inventory, etc.  
• TPRS activities that can be used for any story or text. (these are mostly just electronically stored in my dropbox)
  
  
  

  

  If you use a mac, look up how to use TAGS.  

  
  
  
  
• Frequently displayed: Things that I show often or always have a "frequently displayed" tag in my finder (macbook).  This may be directions for an activity that we do all the time or visuals for a favorite brain break, etc.  (electronic only)
• Signs and labels (electronic only)
• printouts for FVR (electronic only)
• Class lists and info, divided by school year and class (electronic only)
• Business (PD, budget, documentation) (electronic only)
• Rubrics that I use (electronic only)

It is, for me, worth it to spend time organizing, because then I rarely get buried under paper or electronic files.  Not that I don't get totally overwhelmed.  I have an evernote notebook called TO FILE ASAP that has 211 notes it it right now, so I have some work to do.   But, I know that I have a plan for what to do with all that information, and I just need to not be lazy, which is easier with a plan.  

Breakout for Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro

 I wrote my first breakout! It's finished and ready! It was super fun to write and my kids are loving it.

El Perrito Está Perdido- Lost Lucky

Thanks to Carol Gaab and FluencyMatters for giving me permission to share freely with other teachers.  Please note that this breakout is licensed under an Atttribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 4.0 Creative Commons License.  That means you can share and adapt it as long as you do not profit from it. Use of this work or any part of it for commercial purposes is not permitted.

What is this breakout all about?

In the book Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro, a dog gets lost and found, but we don't really know what happened.  This is the story of the girl who lost the dog.  It is written from her perspective and should be comprehensible for students who have read the book.  There is also a past-tense version of the readings if you want to run it with that text.  Bonus- once you set up the clues, you don't have to do anything other than swap out the readings.

What is a breakout anyway?  

Here are some useful articles for teachers who use CI and Breakouts.
What they are and how to put together a kit
A Breakout for Newbies
Breakout Edu Website  (Confession- I find the website and sharing platform to be difficult and frustrating.  I love the activities but the website is just hard to use!)


Some words of advice:

1) This breakout is HARD!  There are suggestions in the set-up documents for how to make it easier or more challenging.
2) I do not run this breakout as a timed breakout.  It is hard!  Instead, I give students a certain number of "tries" with each lock- between 15 and 20 tickets.  I prefer to do input based breakouts this way so students spend the time getting the input, then trying to solve the puzzles.  It took my kids more than an hour and half to break out.  But they all told me that it was not "too hard".
3) I ask that students read all the "chapters" together, out loud, before working on the puzzles.  This keeps the focus on the input.
4) I probably would not do this as my first breakout with a group.  For an introductory breakout, I suggest you use Vamos a Bolivia.

Note: I run my breakouts with 1 box. 
Here is how I do it:

• Prepare group folders with all materials, including hint cards and UV light pens.  This is super time consuming, but I think it is worth the trouble. 
• Assign kids to heterogenous groups  I aim for 4-6 kids in a group.  
• Give each group a team tracking sheet and a certain number of tickets or stickers.  One ticket = 1 minute with each lock, until the last day (or last 15 minutes), when it is 1 ticket=30 seconds with each lock.
• I have a master sheet that I use to track who opened what lock and I use tally marks to keep track of their tickets.
• When a group opens all the locks, they...hang out.  I ask them to read or work on illustrating stories for our library until most of the other groups have finished or have come closer to finishing.  THEN they get the glory of opening the locks in front of everyone.