Keeping Organized With Color Coding

I have mentioned this before, but I LOVE color coding!

Every subject has its own color and I have an annoyingly colorful system for every part ;)

I started this system years ago and it helps the visual part of me stay calm and collected, especially after school has been in session for a few months and the piles start to overtake me!

Here are my colors:

• green= writing
• blue= reading
• yellow= math
• red= social studies & science
• orange= spelling & language study
• purple= extra topics & misc. (holidays, back to school, conferences, etc.)

Material Organizers

If you decide to start color-coding, one of the most important items I purchased was this organizer from Lakeshore (Really Good Stuff has similar ones, too):

I have had mine for years and it's a lifesaver!! I organize by subjects and this set comes with plastic fike folders, but I also stock up on additional paper ones as well:

It's nice keeping upcoming activities and resources in these bins. The file folders make them easy to organize and to grab quickly for copying. The bins are nice and large, too, so they hold books and other materials easily.

Another great resource I picked up was this bin for my copies for the week:

It's marketed as a place for kids to turn in their work, but I found it hard for my kids to keep their piles neat the year I used it like that, so I assumed control and used it for me :) I *try* to make all of my copies at the beginning of the week and I will leave the stacks in these bins so they are easy to spot and pass out quickly.

I tend to make piles- lots & lots of piles- so this rack allows my piles to look nice and neat (and completely deceive those around me into thinking I am tidy)! Yay!

Now that you have places to keep your materials in their color-coded loveliness, I want to share some additional ways to take this system to an even crazier more useful level ;)

Making Copies

I color code my copies.... yes, it's that bad.... but, maybe not as bad as you're thinking. I only color-code super-duper important papers, like tests, quizzes, and reference sheets to keep in folders. Everyday copies are always made in white :) I started this a few years ago and love it- it serves three purposes:

1. it reminds the kids that this paper is important
2. it makes it easier for me to find/remember to grade/locate if it becomes "lost" in their desk or folders
3. it alerts the parents that this is an important paper (like a test or quiz) when it gets sent home in their folders at the end of the week

What's great is that when I make weekly copies, it's very easy to split them up into the storage rack by color :)

By the way- I use pink paper for Science and Social Studies.

Student Folders & Notebooks

I extend this system to my students' folders and notebooks. This makes life so.so.so much easier!! I simply say "Grab your Math Folder" and suddenly everything is yellow :) This has alleviated so many problems of assignments going into the wrong folder (and getting lost forever!) or notes being taken in the wrong notebook. I can quickly scan the room and see that everyone is in the correct folder or notebook. Aaaaah, the ease of it all puts me in Teacher Heaven!

How do I accomplish this? In the past, it was a lot of "musical notebooks and folders"- kids were required to bring in folders and notebooks of various colors and I could often piecemeal it all together to work. I have also made labels with colors from my system, and that helped. This year, though, our school is collecting school supply money from parents and we order the supplies we need-Yahoo! This has saved me SO MUCH TIME and energy!! I am thrilled! But, to be fair, this is not the case everywhere and I was able to use this system for many years using student-bought supplies and it worked perfectly :)

Do you color code for different subjects? I would love to hear the many ways you do- I love adding to my repertoire :)