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Here are some ideas on how to organize all of your teaching files electronically. I prefer this to having big chunky notebooks for which I have to find storage space. Another benefit to storing files electronically is that if you use a cloud drive, you can have access to these files almost anywhere… at school, at home, while you wait in a doctor’s office, while you travel. With a cloud drive, you do not necessarily have to have an internet connection at all times to access the files (you only need an internet connection to sync the files).
I organize files with lesson ideas, photos of materials I have, PDF’s of printable activities I can use, and many other things into file folders on my computer. I take a photo of each of my materials (mostly the hands-on learning games that are used for small group or centers), and organize them into folders, such as Math, Literacy, Fine Motor Skills, Science, Art, Sensory, etc. (as you can see in the picture above). I also have folders for themes and holidays. Inside each folder are folders labeled with each skill, e.g. the Math folder has folders labeled Sorting, Patterns, Shapes, etc.
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I organize the photos and documents by skill. When I’m doing my lesson planning, it is easy to look through one of the folders for whichever skill I’m teaching and find what I need. I have this on my cloud drive so that I can easily use it from home or school. Another option is a jump drive, but they are small and easy to lose. There are also services like Flickr, Picasa, and others where you can organize your photos into online albums. However, by organizing into folders on my computer, I can organize not only photos, but Word Docs, PDF’s, video files, music files, PowerPoint slideshows, and basically any electronic file.
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