• Home
  • Shop
    • Shop Now
    • Gift Cards
    • Cart
    • Purchase Orders
    • School Licenses
    • My Account
  • Blog
    • Academics
      • Adapted Books
      • Comprehension
      • Cooking
      • Crafts
      • ELA
      • ESY
      • Fine Motor
      • Life Skills
      • Math
      • Occupational Therapy
      • Science
      • Sensory Bins
      • Social Emotional Learning
      • Social Skills
      • Social Studies
      • Speech Therapy
      • Task Boxes
      • Vocabulary
      • Writing
    • At Home Learning
      • Digital
      • Remote Learning
    • Behavior
      • ABA
      • Communication
        • AAC
      • Data
      • Schedules
      • Visuals
    • Simple Classroom
      • Back to School
      • Book Recommendations
      • Classroom Setup
      • Freebies
      • IEP
      • Inclusion
      • Inspiration
      • Organization
      • Paraprofessional
      • Remote Learning
      • Seasonal
        • Fall
        • Winter
        • Spring
        • Summer
    • Tot School
  • Classroom Tours
    • Self-Contained
    • Speech
    • Preschool
    • Elementary Autistic Support
    • K-2
    • K-2 (Socially Distanced)
    • K-4 (Tiny Room)
    • 1-4 (Life Skills)
    • 2-3 (ABA)
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • High School (Life Skills)
    • Multiple Disabilities
  • New Teachers
    • Join My Online Course
    • First Year
    • Interviews
    • Job Search
  • Grade Level
    • Preschool
    • Primary
    • Elementary
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Simple Self-Contained Setup 101®
    • Join Now!
    • Success Stories
    • Log In
  • Free Resources
    • Log In
  • More…
    • Meet Alyssa
    • Meet Our Bloggers
    • Collaborate
    • Guest Blogging
    • Contact Me
    • Disclosures
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Simply Special Ed

Resource Downloads & Teaching Advice

Back to School Blog Organization Simple Classroom

Storage tips for Special Education Resources

In special education, we have a TON of resources that are bulky, piecey, and just plain aren’t easy to store. Over the years, we come up with our own tips and tricks for storing things to make it all work.

(( This post will contain affiliate links. You don’t pay any more, but if you purchase from my link I get a small commission. This allows me to try everything out that I recommend to you and keep my blog running smoothly (and providing you free resources like this one- so thanks for clicking my links!))

For me, storage has to be three things:

  1. Easy to access. (because we could need something at a moments notice)
  2. Easy to see what’s inside. (because otherwise, I won’t ever find or use it)
  3. Takes up minimal space. (because we never have enough space)

We make a LOT of our own resources, and if we DO properly store them, we will be able to:

  1. Use them year after year with ease.
  2. Protect them from becoming weathered quickly.
  3. Have a vast library for when any new student with any ability walks in. 

This is HUGE. Storage is more than organization. It’s functionality. It’s time saving. It will literally make you a better teacher. It’s worth the investment to get all of the above- year after year.

 

Here are a few of my favorite ways to store resources.

These plastic zip envelopes (affiliate link) are literally my life saver. My mom recently dropped a pack of these off and I have bought multiple packs from Amazon since. they Stretch so they can fit alot- you can see through them (HUGE WIN), and they are thick plastic to protect. I love to through seasonal recipes we didn’t get to, extra pieces to bulletin boards, and seasonal items in these. These even have small ones that are perfect for storing your color coded visuals!

Math books shown: Simple Math 2 Adapted Books

Bins for adapted books. This is just for the ones I am keeping out at the time. All of seasonal bins go in the big plastic bins labeled by month and get added to these little ones each month. (although the math and science stay out all the time!) These bins are the perfect size because they can store full adapted book sets (with the landing page!) And can slide into a bookshelf for easy storage. They can easily be pulled on and kept on a desk in a bin when you are working with students during centers. If pieces do fall off, they fall into the bin- and nothing gets lost.

From this view you can see how perfectly these 5 books fit! These bins are literally perfect! I found them at target in the office section. (similar here)

File folders shown: Simple ELA file folders

File folders- we have all come to know and love them. One of my most asked questions is how to store them! I love doing it this way. I keep them in magazine racks by theme, I can still see the tab so know what to grab, but they compact them for storage- I can fit so many of these on one shelf!

This one is holding 18 file folders! That’s huge! I love how tightly it keeps them stored, if pieces fall out they fall into the bin, and again, I can grab it off the shelf and bring to a center table and easily differentiate for any student who comes over. It keeps my center table neat and clean (rather than a bunch of file folders spread across).

The one shown is this brand from amazon (affiliate link), but this pack of 8 (affiliate link) is too good to pass up.

curriculum shown: Simple Math

And lastly, curriculum. I prefer to laminate my curriculum pages, and have students work through with a dry erase. I use post it notes to mark where each student left off. The more things you laminate- the less ripped up pages, lost pages, and disorganization you deal with. I also love that I have these FOREVER, and am saving a ton on paper and ink in the future. Because I put each in it’s own binder- I have to search for some really good binder deals. Here is my favorite set of white binders (affiliate link)  (because white= cheaper) and I color code with the title tabs!

What’s your favorite storage tip? Do you have a favorite solution? leave it in the comments! 

(( This post did contain affiliate links. You don’t pay any more, but if you purchase from my link I get a small commission. This allows me to try everything out that I recommend to you and keep my blog running smoothly (and providing you free resources like this one- so thanks for clicking my links!))

Related Posts:

  • Copy-of-TPT-Canva-Link-Halloween-Mockups
    5 Resources for Halloween in Special Education
  • Teacher playing with student with disability
    5 Tips for Early Childhood Special Education
  • IMG_2016
    Tips for Teaching Time in Special Education
Share
Pin


« Apples, Apples, Everywhere: A Free Adapted Text
Apples and Pumpkins: An Adapted Text (freebie!) »
Hi amazing teachers!
I'm Alyssa Shanahan -- a former Elementary Special Ed & Life Skills teacher. My classroom focus was always to keep things simple, increase communication, and build independence. Simply Special Ed's goal is to help teachers and students reach their full potential in and out of the classroom!

Sign up to receive exclusive tips,
free resources, and more!

Recent Posts

My Preschool Special Education Schedule

Preschool Self Contained Classroom Tour

Getting a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy

How to Plan for Para Support in a Self-Contained Classroom

How to Use a Classroom Layout Builder

A Day in the Life of a Self-Contained Teacher

Copyright © Simply Special Ed 2025 · Design by Fancy Girl Design Studio

Copyright © 2025 · Simply Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok