Tame the Paper Monster Part 5: Student Files

In this last and final installment of my Tame the Paper Monster series we will tackle the student files. 

I don't know about you, but in my school we are required to keep a file for each child. In those files we keep notes, excuses, tardy slips, and a few signed forms from the beginning of the year. 

After a couple years of writing on labels and sticking them over the names of last year's students I decided there had to be a better way. I went in search of a solution (on proteacher.net) and found one of the best organizing ideas I've used in my classroom. Now, I don't have any record of whose idea this was, so if it belong to you I want to know so I can tell you how smart you are!

The lovely person on the message board suggested buying one of these: 

This one is around $12 on Amazon. You can click on the picture to go to the product site on Amazon.

I purchased mine at WalMart and cut the top off just so I could have easier access. Then I labeled each tab 1-21 and printed a little numbered class list and taped it onto the front of the folder. Each student's information is placed in the file that matches their number - easy peasy! 

Now, I keep this instead of an individual file for each student because this method saves a lot of time and folders! At the beginning of each year I purge my files and tape on a new class list for a fresh start. I've been using this same folder for at least 5 years and it is still going strong. 

This probably wouldn't work for you if you are required to keep folders that must be handed down at the end of the year, but maybe you could think of some other way to use this handy time saver in your room?