Classroom Lesson Organization

I have posted many of the lesson ideas that I use for classroom counseling, so today I thought it would be helpful for me to share my organizational system.  As we all know, organization is a luxury that we are always striving for during the overall craziness of the school environment!  After 4 years of planning and creating classroom lessons, I have found that my life runs so much smoother if I am prepared and organized!  So here is the system that I have put together that works best for me...

First, is my lesson plan bible. I have 40 minute classroom guidance lessons with every classroom every other week.  The schedule can get pretty crazy, so it really helps me to open up my lesson plan book for the week and know what classes I have.  For each class, I jot down the lesson title and anything else I need to change or add to the lesson.

For my lessons, I store them in file folders that are hole punched to fit in binders.  I store all the worksheets/game pieces/books that I need for the lesson in sheet protectors that fit inside the file folders. I also find it really helpful to have the lesson plan written on the inside of the folder.  This helps keep everything I need in one spot. I am not running around at the last minute trying to find the book I need or rushing to make copies.

I store all the lessons I will be using for the 9 weeks in a file folder box that sits on my desk.  Again, this keeps everything close at hand and easy to find!  They are separated by tabs per grade level.

Finally, when the 9 weeks is over, I simply store all my lessons in 3 ring binders labeled by grade level.  This is where they are kept until I need them again next year!  I also think it is important to say that I believe in teaching lessons that directly affect the needs of my students, so I also have a file cabinet full of ideas to pull and use, if my planned lesson is not what they need at the time.  I believe it is important to continuously update my lessons and not grow stagnate by reusing the same ole thing, so these binders are updated constantly. 

How do you organize your classroom lessons?