Morning Work Binders

I feel like I have mentioned in several posts about my morning binders and yet, I haven't elaborated on them or shown you examples.  These binders are what my students complete when we finish our morning group work on the board (covering topics of calendar, weather, social skills, emotions, lunch options, whether or not we have recess, attendance, etc.).  I originally made these to keep my students' little hands busy during my morning group (now, we try and get students to participate in the group, and when that is finished, complete their binders).  They are also useful to make sure each student is covering each topic (many which fit into IEP goals) every day.

Each child's binder is different, depending on level.  Today- I will show you a mid-level binder, tomorrow- a high-level binder, and Saturday- a lower level binder.

Here is what the binder looks like when you open it.  A finished envelope on the left (to put the schedule pieces in when each activity is completed), a copy of the weekly schedule in the pocket of the binder (to help aids/students set up the schedule each day), and the daily picture schedule on the right side of the page.  I also velcro in wet erase markers to the front of the binder (which the kids use on some of their laminated binder pages).

Here is a close-up of the weekly schedule for one student.  This makes it possible for students to set up their own schedules...and also makes it a lot easier for me and my aids to set up schedules for each kid.

I have divider pages between each section of the binder to help students locate their work.  I use the "stop, nice hands, sit and wait" visual to signal the child to wait before turning the page.  

Here is a sample of this students language arts timing pages.  Timings are meant to increase speed and fluency of speech for students.  Again, the difficulty of these timings vary by student.  I set the time for 30 seconds and all the students complete their fluency readings at the same time.  Then we count up how many words were read/items labeled, and write them in the chart at the bottom of the page.  My assistant completes this one for my student since he cannot yet write.

Here is an example of this student's math timing.  It is conducted in the same manner as above.  To find a complete set of these timings sheet, click here.

Here is an example of the calendar page.  For now, the student only has to take down the current month/season and put them in the blank box.  Eventually, the student will work on putting the months in order as well.

 On this page, my student works on matching pictures of people who are happy, sad, and mad.  This is to address an IEP goal about recognizing/displaying emotions.

This page is about get my student to use attributes to describe the clothes he is wearing.  He has to put the correct color next to each item of clothes to reflect what he is wearing each day.