Even with schools going more to email notifications, there is still plenty of paper to go around. Thanks to contributor Sarah Chandler for sharing this popular organizational tool that will keep your child’s school year under control! She writes: When my son Levi started kindergarten last year, I was so excited when he brought home his school papers to show me every afternoon. I loved seeing what he had learned that day and watch his writing and math skills improve each week. I also enjoyed the newsletter his teacher sent home on Fridays that gave updates on the classroom activities and reminded us of upcoming events.
What I did not come to love was the LARGE number of papers that were coming home and how it started piling up on my counter. I needed a solution to control it and I needed it fast!
My friend Carol presented an idea to our mom’s group about how a basic binder can save organizational headaches with school papers. The concept is simple along with the supplies needed—one binder for each child, 3-4 divider pages with tabs, and a hole punch. For my first grader’s binder, I have a divider for teacher newsletters and announcements labeled “Newsletters”, one for general school information labeled “Ball Elementary” and the final one simply labeled “Levi’s papers.” Now if I need to quickly find a class list or verify a date for something, I just flip to the correct section and I’m set.
At the end of the year I go through the binder and weed out all of the information that is out of date. But some things I do keep, like the bus schedule and route and the school policies as they pretty much stay the same. Favorite papers of Levi’s, like art projects or a short story he wrote, I put in a folder labeled with the year and then place the folder into a file box down in the basement. This file box system keeps things in order and gives me a chance to hold onto a few of his favorite school memories a little longer. Not surprisingly, I still have my box from my school years and it is fun to look back and see what things I created and wrote about when I was young. Hopefully my kids will feel the same way!
Springfield Moms contributor Sarah Chandler is a Springfield native, wife to Jeff, and mom to Levi and Anne. She loves to be outdoors during all seasons and enjoys relaxing indoors by creating quilts and scrapbooking.
