Color-Coded Files for Organized Lesson Plans

How do you stay organized with your daily lessons – and planning ahead? One quick and easy way that I’ve learned – that actually WORKS for me – is using Color-Coded Files for my daily lesson plans.

I will admit that I spend WAY too long planning my lessons and deciding WHAT I will do and WHEN I will do it. If you have any tips on that – send them my way.

This post will help you keep your lesson plans organized AFTER you’ve planned the lessons.

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Using Color-Coded Files for Organized Lesson Plans

First, you have to get yourself organized. This will require 10 Hanging Files – 5 of one color, and 5 of another. This will be enough for 2 weeks, Monday through Friday. You will also need file folders to go inside the hanging files (I like my file folders to match my hanging files, so I know right where it goes if it gets out of order!) And lots of labels and tabs.

Take a look at the yellow files, above. I have a hanging file folder labeled “Monday,” “Tuesday,” etc. for each day of the week. They are all the same color – as you can see. There are blue files for “Week 1” and yellow files for “Week2.” Inside each hanging file, I have folders labeled for each subject that I teach. Each folder has its own label. For example, I have “Math, Mon. 2” on one folder. This means that file contains Monday’s Math for Week 2. In that same hanging file is Monday’s Reading for Week 2, and Monday’s LA for Week 2. Those are all of the subjects that I teach. Tuesday (and the other days of the week) are labeled the same way. Week 1 is labeled the same way, also.

You are now all set up and ready to begin making copies and sorting your papers.

Organized Lesson Plans – What I Do

Here’s a step-by-step guide for organized lesson plans on a weekly basis: I write out my lesson plans complete with a LIST of:

1. copies that I need to make

2. materials that I need to gather – like task cards, manipulatives, construction paper, dice, etc.

With the list written, I gather the papers that I need to copy, a little box of paper clips, and my portable file (- and yes – it’s wonderful that it’s portable!) and head to the copy machine.

As I make each copy, I paper clip the papers and drop them straight into the correct subject file folder for the correct day, in the correct week. Pretty simple to stay organized!

When you’re finished making copies, drop any other materials, like manipulatives, task cards, etc. into the hanging file and folders as well. Your lessons are officially organized, set up, and ready to go!

Each day you just grab that day’s already organized hanging file, or even just the subject file folder that you need. It feels so WONDERFUL to be organized!

As always – if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

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