Let's get ORGANIZED!

Nothing drives me more crazy then to have a student open his or her bookbag and see it stuffed with papers...notes to parents, graded papers, flyers!  Argh!!!!  So much communication going down the tubes!

In order to combat this I have a organizing tool that I give my students the first day I meet them.  I call it a D.O.T. book.  D.O.T. Book stands for Daily Organizing Tool.  This is where everything my students could ever need (classroom management-wise) is located.  It is my pride and joy! (Please forgive the glares on the pictures...)

I've spent a oodles of time getting this baby perfect...this year I did a redesign and discovered the joy of  FREE(!!!!) Vistaprint flyers...boy did my wallet and printer thank me!

My D.O.T. Book has several different parts... first the homework pocket and overview....

Then a money pocket for any kind of money...ice cream money, lunch money, bookfair money, fieldtrip money (I think you get the idea!) that students may need to bring in...a special pocket for important notes home (like conduct sheet, notes, and other fliers)....you can also see the assignment/agenda book that my school buys for each student (very nice!)...

a parent communication section...

the classroom handbook...

and finally a homework helpers section...

 with a place to store our study cards for science and social studies vocabulary...

Getting these takes a lot of upfront cost on my part...but I look for the deals and find the absolute lowest cost to purchase all these supplies.  And what makes this worth it is my parents love it!  It really helps to get the kids organized for their fourth grade year, and some of them even duplicated it again for their child the next year too!

 

Do you want your own copy of the D.O.T. Book?  When I updated my D.O.T. Book, I made it fully editable for you too!  All you need to do is change the information as you need, print, and, voila, you have your own D.O.T. Book.

 

You can get your own copy at Teacher's Notebook right now!  I hope to have the updated version loaded at TeachersPayTeachers by the end of the week!  Enjoy!