Sorting and Organizing Book Companion Plans

In my last post, I reviewed my binder storage expansion for filing speech and language materials, but alas, I had some trouble getting my seasonal book companion units into those binders too.  I started filling small bins with books and filing companion plans into a thick binder.  This left me with an overstuffed binder and open bins that aren't easy to transport back and forth to my part time school position.  I have seen some SLPs like Jenn Alcorn at Crazy Speech World use portable snap lid filing bins to store materials, so I thought I'd give those a try.  Let's take a look at my process for determining how many bins I needed.

First, I laid all the books with companion plans on a table.  Doing this helped me see how many sets I had for each season.  As you can see, my fall and winter books filled the table!  I only have a few books for spring and summer.  I also made sure that the units fit into a hanging file.

Next, I purchased two large bins and one smaller.

Last, I dropped books and lesson plans (which were already in page protectors) into hanging folders, and then made tab labels.  I had just enough red hanging files for my Valentine books.

Since my home office closet is chuck full of games, toys, office supplies, and other speech and language materials, I'm going to try and stack these neatly in a small corner.  I have the openings facing the wall to hopefully deter little explorers from popping them open to peek inside.

I did keep one large book bin filled with giant Ziploc bags and manipulatives for my private preschool and kindergarten students tucked neatly into the closet.  Sometime in the near future, I will publish my preschool literacy summary that talks about the contents in this bin.

I think I have a good handle on my materials, just in time for the annual sale at the local teacher supply store, The Chalkboard;)