Fun and Learning in English and Spanish: What's in my Teacher Bag?

Everywhere I go, I take my teacher bag with me. When I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. I take this to grade level meetings, faculty staff meetings, IEP/SST meetings, etc. Needless to say, I also take this home with me daily and back to work daily. If you're a new teacher, or if you're a teacher who simply needs a little help organizing yourself, you may find a good tip or two in this blog post. (Can you tell I'm a HUGE Wisconsin Badgers fan?! haha)

1 - Binder Cover (editable)

I made this cute binder cover just in case I'm in a "spacy" mood someday. By that, I mean...if I accidentally leave this binder in someone's meeting room, then they'll know who it belongs to...me! Unfortunately, I do this quite often...perhaps I try to multi-task a little too much sometimes. haha! Click on the picture above to get the link to these cute (and EDITABLE) binder covers.

2 - Supply Bag

In my supply bag, I keep tons of office supplies that I might need during one of my many teacher meetings (or at home while I'm grading papers, cutting out center materials, etc.) I got mine for $1 at Dollar Tree, but you can find these anywhere. Here's a quick list of what I keep in the bag:

Pencils (mechanical pencils for myself - in case I need to jot down notes during a meeting)
Colored pens (for grading papers)
Sticky notes (to write myself reminders that I may need to jot down during a meeting)
Highlighter (to highlight important info given to me during a meeting)
Paperclips (because ya never know)
Binder clip (because ya never know)
Permanent marker (because ya never know)
Glue stick (in case I'm working on making math or literacy centers at home)
Scissors (in case I take home laminated math or literacy center materials that need to be cut out)

3 - Grade Level Pacing Guide

I often write lesson plans at home either on weekday evenings or on the weekend. I also try to find center ideas and educational resources that match up with what I'm teaching. In order to do so effectively, I keep the grade level pacing guide in my planning binder. That helps me remember what types of resources I need to find and/or make.

4 - Common Core Standards Cheat Sheets for ELA & Math

I also keep a list of common care standards for all subject areas in my planning binder. I do this because my school administrators require that I write down the common core standards that are aligned with what I'm teaching every week. We are required to post our weekly lesson plans online along with a list of common core standards that match up with my daily lesson plans. By keeping this in my planning binder, I'm quickly able to find what I need. I found these cute and FREE common core standards cheat sheets for K-5 on TPT. Please note that I did not make these sheets. They are located on a different store's TPT. The links are below:

5 - Georgia Science and Social Studies Standards

In order to help me find resources for specific science and/or social studies standards, I also keep those handy in my planning binder. I currently teach in Georgia, so I'll post the links to the GA standards below:

6 - Dolch Words List

I like to keep a list of Dolch words by level in my planning binder. I do that because I write the differentiated spellings words on the board each Monday. I have 3 levels for reading center groups. These reading center groups are NOT the same as my guided reading groups. For center groups, I have 1-lower level readers, 2-on grade level readers, and 3-higher level readers. I write down the spellings words for each center level group every Monday on the board. My level 1 readers will have to practice spelling/reading/writing the RED words that are on the board. My level 2 readers will do the same with the BLUE words, and my level 3 readers will do the same with the PURPLE words that are on the board. In the picture below, you can see that I write R (red), B (blue), or P (purple) so that I remember which group practiced which words during word work time, morning work, etc.

This may sound a little confusing, so I'll write another post about how I do differentiated centers soon. In the meantime, just know that I keep this list on hand for when I write lesson plans. This Dolch list of words is part of a larger resource that I made for my kiddos. Click on the picture below to learn more about it:

7 - Class Schedule

While writing lesson plans, I also jot down the time/subject. Speaking of lesson plans, click on the picture below to learn more about my differentiated lesson plan template:

8 - Class Specials Rotation Schedule

I keep the class specials rotation schedule in my planning binder as well. My school has more 2nd grade classes than it does specials classes. So, we rotate through the different specials classes every few days. I keep this handy in case a parent emails me asking which specials class we have the next school day.

9 - Grades Needed

Each school district requires different grades for different teaching standards. It also changes depending on which grade level you're teaching. I keep the list of grades needed per quarter in my planning binder to help me when I'm writing lesson plans, making centers, or thinking of assessments to give my students.

10 - Grades Calculation Helper

I bought this handy dandy grading chart at Dollar Tree many, many years ago. It comes in SUPER handy when I'm grading multiple choice type assessments and need to quickly find out what percentage the student worked out correctly/incorrectly. Yep, I take LOTS of papers home to grade. Fun times. Fun times. haha

11 - Volunteers Needed Sheet

Whenever I'm at home and think of something that a parent can help me with, I simply look at my stapled volunteer sheets that I keep in my planning binder. I passed these "Volunteers Needed" sheets out to my students' parents at the beginning of the year. I received about 15 back, which is really good! I love it when I get a class full of hands-on parents!

Here's an example of when I needed the volunteer sheets in the past: I stayed late at school to laminate resources to use as upcoming math and literacy centers. I simply pulled out a volunteer sheet and put the laminated resources (along with a sweet "thank you" note and goody) into a large ziploc bag for the parent volunteer. I also put a sticky note with directions of what to do with the laminated resources in the large ziploc bag. I'll then sent home the ziploc bag with a student the next school day. The parents cut out the center resources (or stapled together student booklets, etc.) and sent it back to school with their child. If you look closely at the picture above, I also wrote down a date on the top left corner to remind me that that specific parent already helped by volunteering to do something on such date. This helps me spread out the help among all of the different parent volunteers that returned the volunteer forms to me. Click on the picture below to get the volunteer form FREEBIE:

12 - Loose Leaf Paper

I keep a couple sheets of loose leaf paper in my planning binder just in case I need to jot down notes from one of my many meetings that I attend at school.

13 - CAFE Boards (reading strategy cards)

While writing lesson plans, I also like to add "CAFE Board reading strategies" that the kiddos can use to help them with their literacy skills. I'll write a separate post specifically about CAFE reading strategies soon. The kids love these CAFE cards and refer to them throughout the school year.

I offer CAFE Boards for Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade, and I also offer them in Spanish! Click on any of the pictures below for more information: