Organizing Word Works

The life of a lower-primary teacher could accurately be compared to that of a sideshow circus clown. We run around, entertain the World's most distractible audience and actually have to make our time productive enough to get these little rascals to read, write, etc.  Sometimes, when I walk through my door after a long day at school, I just plop from exhaustion. (Imagine turning a partially melted ice-cream cone upside down. Yep, that's me. PLOP. Does anyone else PLOP?) 

So, with all of that being said, I know more than anyone the importance of being organized within this profession, where moments of sanity are few and far between. During my Summer School experience (where I first implemented Word Works), I immediately began searching for an effective means to organize this mass of instructional material. I was afraid it couldn't be done, but I accidentally stumbled on the most effective way EVER. (You may know a better way, but this is pretty great and makes lesson preparation oh-so-easy.) 

Here is how it works! First, you'll need some organizing goodies. The list here is enough to organize and store one WW set. 

- One 3-ring binder with a 2' width
- Mini-Velcro dots (at least 20 per set of WW)
- One (20 pack) of Martha Stewart Home Office Top-Secure 2 Pocket Sheet Protectors (Follow this link to see them on quill.com: SHEET PROTECTORS (I love these things!!!!) 

When you have everything together, you'll need to place the sheet protectors in the binder and add the Velcro-dots on the flaps to keep them secure. You can see this in the picture below.  This protects the materials from falling out. This step may not be required to contain the items, but if you're like me (SUPER CLUMSY), it may be worth the extra precaution. :) 

Next, you can label each pocket any way that makes it easy for you. I simply numbered the pockets 1-20 with a Sharpie. This way, I just have to remember what day of the set I'm on, and I can pull out the materials as I need them. You can sort of see my numbers on the bottom left of each pocket in this picture:

After that, you'll just have to use the sheets included in the WW Sets that sequence the lesson days (shown in the side pocket below) to organize the pieces. For example, I put all of the cards for  Day 1 Sentences, Rhyming Words, Beginning Sounds, Ending Sounds, etc. in one pocket. So, when the time comes, I just grab them from the binder and put them up on the bulletin board for the lesson. Then, afterwards, I just place them back into the pocket and that is that. 

I can't stress enough how EASY this makes this program! You will never stress over this part of your day because it will be SO SIMPLE. You will not regret taking the time to do this, I promise!! 


I hope this helps all of you wonderful Teachers that have requested organizing information. If this isn't thorough enough, I'll be happy to elaborate more. Just leave me a comment. :) 

God bless!!