All year this past year I felt disorganized. We all have those moments, but I felt like as I passed my kids off to new paras, specialists, and such, they were lost, their materials were lost and we all we just a little LOST.
I started to create this binder in the middle of the year, and used the rest of the year to perfect it. I needed ONE thing to pass along or have the student take ownership of, that would keep them on track all day long no matter where they went.
I wanted the cover to be simple. I wanted it to be designed by the student, but look like binders other students may be carrying around too, to help them fit in. The pages are black and white, so you can print on whatever color paper of your choosing. I chose primary astrobrights for this student.
The first sections can be cut out and hot glued or velcroed on wherever you see fit. I put the “About Me” section at the top, in case the binder got lost, or the student needed to refer to personal information about herself without prompting.
The “remember” section can be used for anything. I put a bathroom visual for this student to remind staff and specialists that she needed to use the bathroom at these times. Staff could also write notes to each other, or higher level students could write reminders to themselves about things to bring home or tell a teacher.
This is particularly great for students beginning to travel about the room alone.
The “First, Then, Next” session is the first thing you see when you open the binder up. You can easily velcro visuals for students who use are working off of picture schedules, or just write in what’s next for students who are a bit higher. Many of my students get great satisfaction from crossing or wiping off what has been done!
The next page is a schedule page. It is a simple checklist schedule for students who need things broken down quickly and on the spot. Since your student should be bringing this binder everywhere with them, you could quickly erase and write the steps out for an art project causing frustration or how many problems needed to finish to earn a reward. The satisfaction of the checklist is key for this sheet.
For lower students transitioning from a wall schedule, I would first use a picture schedule here. You could also just print a copy of a student schedule and include it in this tab for high school students trying to build more independence.
The behavior section is where I store token boards and behavior plans for each student. This way, all specialists and paraprofessionals can refer to it at any time.
The simple token board included in this set can be adapted for any student.
The weekly schedule is also helpful for kids who struggle with the long term. Sometimes the things on the weekly schedule are preferred and sometimes it is a reminder that the not so preferred may be coming, but it’s ok!
It’s also helpful to have visual rules and reminders for students struggling on the go. Insert your own visuals, cue cards, or rules into this section and use it to remind students on the spot.
The last page is a great place to store visuals of any kind for your students. I add a ton of visuals and just grab what I need as I go through the day. It’s a great place to prep visuals at the beginning of the day for students who need extra supports.
This binder has been working wonders for my students who travel the building throughout the day, but also helps my students that maintain in the classroom most of the day maintain independence and start to have something they are responsible for!
You can grab the Simple Success Student Binder in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
[…] can read more about how to set these up here) in my classroom. Some kids are transitioning to the student success binder schedule that I carry in my teachers pay teachers store here. Any way you do it, your kids NEED schedules to […]