Do you struggle with organizing student work in your classroom? I know I do! That is why I came up with this simple (and cheap!) strategy to keep your students’ work organized throughout the year. Now, when I say organizing student work, I mean the things you want to keep. If you’re like me, then you will return much of their work to your kids after you have checked it (or not, as the case may be). This system for organizing student work will help you maintain the papers and other things you want to save, not the stuff you want to return.
A Simple Strategy for Organizing Student Work
What You Need
Organizing student work does not need to cost a lot of money or use a ton of materials. This strategy only calls for a few, relatively inexpensive items. You can find all of them at an office supply store, Walmart, Target, or online. To keep your students’ work organized, you will need the following:
- a storage crate
(can be in a fun color that matches your
classroom!) - a set of hanging file folders
(one for each student)
- a numbered list of your students (laminated or put into a sheet protector) – Use this Class List Template!
(can be in a fun color that matches your 
(one for each student)And that’s all you need!
Setting Up Your Crate
To set up your crate, follow these simple steps:
- Label the file folders with numbers, going up to the number of students you have (or beyond, in case you have more students next year and want to reuse your crate).
- Put the hanging file folders into the crate in number order.
- Attach the numbered list of your students to the front of the crate. If you want to reuse the crate, you can put the list into a sheet protector and just switch out the list each year OR laminate a numbered list and then write your students’ names with a dry erase marker.
- Put student work into the appropriate folder!
Staying Organized
I always struggle with staying organized in the classroom, so I love to find ways to make it easier. This crate is definitely one of those ways! If you get into a habit of putting student work into the crate as soon as you know you need to keep it, this system will save you time AND lots of headache (for example, when you need student work samples for a meeting and actually know where to find them…). I hope this helps you stay organized!
Do you have a great idea about organizing student work? Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email!
