New Folder Organization

I have a whole system set up for students to pick up the work that they miss when they're absent.  This is not what im talking anout here. Toward the end of the year, I was no longer able to assign homework from the textbook, so I had to assign worksheets.  The thing about worksheets is that about one third of them mysteriously disappear once students walk out the door.  So I had to make extras.  Lots of extras.

The other thing about worksheets is that students will ask for the ones that their missing at the worst times.  (Like immediately after I've filed them because it seemed that no one else needed them.)  This was my solution.

It worked.  Students had access to the worksheet they were missing, and I did not have to go out of my way to find them.  For this year though, I wanted to streamline my folders.  Literally.  Have you seen these?  I found some at Wal-Mart and their price range was $9.99 and up, and had more pockets than I needed, so I decided to make my own. 

This is what I came up with.

I made new signs for each day of the week and glued them onto a manilla folder.  I also decided to cut the tabs off of each folder.  I used some cute new duck tape (a smaller version called "Duckling").  I first taped each folder shut on the right and left sides.  Then I taped one folder to another on the right and left sides again.  I taped it so that the folders are inside of each other (so I don't accidentally insert papers between the folders).  Finally, I taped a border on each side to keep it sturdy.  I also added a tape border to the top and bottom to make it look "complete".

The only drawback is that once papers are inserted into the folders, they will cover the labels.  That's okay, though.  I think by high school kids understand the sequence of the days of the week.

The only thing I would actually change is that I set the digital paper to 50% transparency.  I should have left it at 100% because now the colors look washed out.  But oh well.  I wasn't about to waste supplies.

Want to make your own?  (The transparency is set to 100% for bright, vibrant colors.)