Getting Organized in the New Year: 1:1 Work Time

I love the new year. It’s full of excitement of the new things that will be happening. It feels like a fresh start, too. I find myself getting things organized in my classroom as I get ready for a new year. Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks as well as some of my favorite tools for keeping an organized classroom, but I’m still able to keep everything I may need at my fingertips.**Note: This post included affiliate links. If you purchase any of the items featured in this post you will not be charged any more and a small commission will be sent my way. This helps keep this website up and running.**
I’m over here sharing more tips and tricks for getting organized in the new year here on the blog. Over the past couple weeks I have shared how to organize your classroom for Morning Meeting and Center Times. Today I’m thrilled to share with you how I organize myself, materials, and more for my 1:1 Work Time in my classroom. Let me show you how I keep myself sane during this time in my classroom.

This is usually where I do the majority of my Discrete Trial Teaching with my students. Just outside of my teacher table I keep a bookshelf with a row of binders.

Inside these binders is where all the magic happens. When the binder is opened there is a storage pocket. Inside this pocket is where we store EVERYTHING the student needs to complete the lessons inside their binder. Flash cards, counting cubes, whatever it is they need, it’s going to be stored inside the storage pocket.

Each binder is then divided into 5 sections which vary a little for each student. But the first tab is always “To Do”. These are the DTT and Task Analysis lessons that students are working on. We keep all the active data sheets behind this tab. This way anyone who picks up the 1:1 work binder will know exactly what skills we are working on and how the student is progressing through those skills. Behind the second tab, I store all of the completed Data Sheets. I separate those sheets with a mastery sheet. I typically copy the mastery sheets on colored paper so that I can quickly jump between lessons. Usually around April, this part of my binder is filled with mastered lessons and data for current lessons. Typically behind the 3rd tab is behavior data. The 4th varies from curriculum data (i.e.: Edmark) and assessment data (i.e.: SANDI). The 5th tab is usually where I keep work samples and assessment results.

Another one of my new favorite organizational tools for 1:1 time are these mini expanding files. I can keep flashcards for lessons right inside them and they are divided for each lesson that my students are completing. For example, I keep my alphabet flashcards in one section for alphabet lessons, picture cards in another for vocabulary lessons, number cards in another for math lessons, etc. The best part about these mini expanding files is that they fit right inside the binder pockets at the front of my binders. I slip everything in there and I’m ready to pull out exactly what I need when it’s time to teach students and I’m able to tuck it right back away when we are done teaching. Oh, and I may or may not have color coded each one of my students mini files. I would hate for one to get misplaced and not know who it belongs to…

This is how I make sure everything I need for 1:1 Teacher Time is right at my fingertips. What are some of your favorite organizational tips for 1:1 Work?