S.E.E.D. Binders

Hello Everyone!! Hope your weekend has been as fabulous as mine, with this BEAUTIFUL fall weather we are having here in Indiana! I have been so busy stalking everyone else's blog in my spare time (which is very limited of course), that I haven't taken the time to post my own!! I thought since I am new around these parts I would take a few more posts to show you the basics of my classroom, and then I can show you all the fun cute activities we do! Today's post is going to be all about the love of my life, our S.E.E.D. binders. Some of you may know them as M.O.O.S.E. binders. I snagged this idea from the teacher website http://www.smithsroom.com/moose.htm. The S.E.E.D. is a 2" three ring binder that contains valuable information  for us to reference at all times. It is a great way to keep my kiddos, parents, and (especially myself) organized. This has been the best thing I could have ever done for my classroom! The parents LOVE them, and they are eally easy for the kiddos to transport and keep up with. Mrs. Smith's site has all of the particulars, as well as printables for you to use as your own. There are also TON of acronyms to choose from that will fit with your personal classroom theme. I use S.E.E.D. because of our garden theme, and it stands for Student Excellence and Efficiency Daily. Here is a quick run through of our S.E.E.D. Binders.

Materials needed for each binder:
*A 2" three ring binder (I started this last year second semester and used a 1", and it got waaaayyy too full, and that was only for half the year!!)
* A HEAVY DUTY three way hole punch!
* Sheet protectors, or page dividers
* A plastic ziploc bag
* a pencil zipper pouch
* Incentive charts (optional)
* Homework or take home folder (whatever you normally use to transport homework and other papers back and forth)
*5 sheets of loose leaf notebook paper.
* All of the other contents are completely up to you. You can customize it to fit your school, classroom, and curricular information.
Here is a quick preview of how mine are assembled. Let me know if you would like copies of any of this stuff, and I will upload it for you! :) Enjoy!!

The front of our binders - I got the cover on teachersclubhouse.com - LOVE it!!!

This is our homework incentive chart, located on the inside cover of the binder. I laminated them, of course, and for every day they bring in their homework, and have their daily assignment page signed by a parent, they get a checkmark. When they forget something, I give them an X. When they get 5 checkmarks in a row, they get to pick a small toy from the prize box. If they fill up the enitre chart wih checkmarks, they get to draw a card from our incentive box. These are bigger prizes such as getting to sit at the teacher's desk for the day, taking their shoes off during class time, being a helper in another classroom, etc...

This is where the overview page is located. This tells my parents everything about what their child's binder contains. The master letter is located at Mrs. Smith's site listed above, but you can tailor it to fit your classroom needs.

Next we have the pencil pouch, I had my kiddos bring them as part of their school supplies, as well as the binder itself. This little compartment is for all of our math and vocbulary flash cards. We keep our vocabulary words on a word ring, but you would be surprised at how many kiddos still seem to misplace them! This is a great way for them to keep up with their flashcards, and also to keep them looking decent all year long! (Well, as decent as they can look being in the care of 6 and 7 year olds :))

The ziploc baggie is for any money they may need to bring to school. Lunch money, field trip money, book fair, you name it!

This is our daily assignment page. Every morning when they come in, they are responsible for copying down the homework that we have for that night. The first couple weeks were rough, but it has really helped them become more responsible, as well as neater writers. The column next to it is where their behavior for the day goes. We use the smiley face pocket chart, so they can draw the color of smiley face they got for the day. If they moved past green, I usually write a brief description of why underneath. Parents love this because they get to monitor their child's behavior everyday, instead of receiving a surprise phone call from the teacher reporting that their child misbehaved that day!

This is the where the notes between myself and the parents are located. I don't know about you guys, but I have some parents that I never see other than open house and parent teacher conferences, so this is a GREAT way to keep in constant contact with all parents. I have my parents date their notes, so that I know when it was written, and I have them initial the notes I write to them, so I know they read them, even if no response is necessary.

This is where we keep our bi weekly lunch menu, so the kiddos know what we're having ahead of time, in case they want to pack their lunch! (If you look closely, you can see this little darling wrote "bring" next to the lunches she didn't like! LOL)

This is where our classroom rules are located. I put them inside of a sheet protector, so that they stay in good shape! 

The other side of the sheet protector includes my contact information, and a brief desription of the best way to get a hold of me.

This is our poetry section. One of my favorite parts! I pass out poems once to twice a week. I try to use as many seasonal poems to match the month/holiday as I can, but every once in a while I stick some anytime poems in there too! This really helps broaden their knowledge of poems and songs, and also gives them something to do when they have finished an independent task and are waiting for the next step.

Last but not least is where our homework folder goes.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at our S.E.E.D. binders. Like I said, I HIGHLY recommend them! If you have any questions or would like any of the materials, let me know!!

I am finally off to bed! I need to rest up for this craxy week coming up. We have parent-teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday, but Thursday starts FALL BREAK!!  We only get two days this year, which is a bit of a bummer compared to the 3 days we got last year, and the whole week to TWO weeks the public schools are getting, but a break is a break and I will still take it!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I promise I will get my life together and start posting more!! :)