How do you organize everything you send home at the end of the day? I am going to share my FAVORITE method: using take home folders.

What are take home folders?

Take home folders are where I housed everything. This is where the parents knew they would find anything I send home, including behavior calendars, AND where they knew to send anything to me such as a note.

In it, I had a space where it was any paperwork that needed to be returned to school (such as forms or picture money). I also had a space for papers that were meant to stay at home like school info and such.

What all do you need for this?

A 3 prong folder I buy mine for 50 cents each at Target. If you do not live by a Target, you can find a set of 25 on Amazon.
Sheet Protectors
Practice Sheets

What is in take home folders?

The first page in the folders I send home is ALWAYS my newsletter (not photographed). In my newsletter I have all the info we are learning about that week for those parents that want to work on it at home. I also have that week’s homework written out on my newsletter (I will share my homework strategy in next week’s post!). You can also use these in the place of homework.

Next I have my behavior calendars. This is where I communicate with the parents about each day if I need to. These behavior charts ALWAYS stay there!

After that our folders are FULL of practice sheets. I communicate with the parents before sending these home that I expect these folders to be used daily. There are some of the most important concepts that need to be mastered in these folders.

How do you keep up with Take Home Folders?

The biggest question I get is: How do you make sure your students bring these back???

I only ever had a problem ONCE in over 5 years of using this.

During open house I show these to the parents. I let them know how they are used and what I expect from them and their child. This information is also sent home in the welcome packet that I send home on the first day of school. I let the parents know that if they are lost or ruined, they are responsible for purchasing another one.

I go over how I teach respect in my classroom. Since I am purchasing items for their child I hope that they will respect that, and respect the fact that I am making these to help their child.

Like I said, I have only had one lost folder so this has never been a problem for me.