I may not be at the level of Marie Kondo or The Home Edit, but I am an obsessive neat-freak. Everything has its place and it goes back in that place as soon as I am done using it (teaching the littles is a daily exercise in patience!). That’s why the C.O.R.E. (Classroom Organizers and Resources for Education) Binder is one of my new favorite tools for teaching.
As organized as I am, I inevitably lose things. We have our part-part-whole mats out for the math lesson, but two months later when we spiral back to it, can I find them? Can I remember which lesson they were used in and where they were filed away? Of course not! Or, I try to get everything ready at the beginning of the year so I lessen my workload on those Friday afternoons when I just can’t take another second and then can’t find the copies when I need them. #seniormomentsinmythirties
Now, I have one less thing to worry about because everything I need is in ONE SPOT. No more searching through file cabinets, shelves, or cabinets. No more mid-lesson heart-in-my-throat moment because I didn’t realize I need such and such an organizer. And let’s be honest – if we can take anything off our already overflowing plates, it is worth it.
Not only does the C.O.R.E. Binder help me and my students stay organized, but it is also entirely reusable for students to have repeated practice using a dry erase marker and plastic pouch. It also offers multiple opportunities for content area learning practice (talk about a wide range of content!), can be used at multiple points of my day, encourages independence, AND encourages social-emotional development.
There is SO much in this resource, from student reference pages to practice pages to yoga sequences, I wanted to share all the awesomeness with you in a deep dive into its contents.
The Basics – What on earth is the C.O.R.E. Binder?
- Over 400 pages of engaging resources
- Student reference, content learning, and social-emotional activities
- Select the pages to include in each student’s binder
- Differentiation for learners with the multiple levels available
- Easily swap out pages over the course of the school year
- Multiple options that cover similar content for customized and personalized learning
- Multi-Use – morning work, math and literacy reference tool, early finishers, and more!
- Optional Use as take-home practice or reference tool
? Going Deeper ?
? Brain Wake-Ups –
I’m so thankful that mental health and social-emotional learning is being addressed more widely in schools today. Because we believe in the importance of social-emotional learning and the connection to academic learning, we included three main categories in the ‘Brain Wake-Ups’ section of the C.O.R.E. Binder.
- Daily Affirmations
- Editable option – you fill in your own affirmations
- Pre-made affirmation option – we’ve done the thinking for you!
- Prep Your Mind
- A series of five activities to wake up your brain or get it in the right frame of mind for learning at the beginning of the day. These include active and calming portions, mindfulness, and a breathing exercise.
- Yoga Sequences
- Kid-friendly yoga breathing techniques as well as three kid-friendly series of yoga positions. Each of the yoga series has an adult page that describes how to do the position as well as a kid-friendly binder version to remind them of the positions so they can do them independently.
? C.O.R.E. Binder Daily Routines –
This section is all those daily routines we do that one might think of as ‘calendar math. I’ve found that including students in the writing and manipulation of tools for this, giving them more responsibility, helps them to take it on and understand the tasks better than if we do it, whole group, with one large set of materials and a student helper.
- Name work
- Counting the number of days in school using tally marks, ten frames, even or odd, number words, money, and place value blocks
- Writing the date
- Fact families
- More/less (10 and 1) for a given number
- Expanded form
? Daily Math Resources –
This section is full of options for daily math work. Some of the skills here (mainly in the Number of the Day) overlap with calendar math for those of you that don’t do calendar math.
- Weather
- Today’s Weather – Students can tell about the daily weather and how it affects them
- Weather Graphing – Graph the weather throughout a given set of time (I do it for a month at a time) and address all those data gathering and comparing skills
- Ten Frames for the Year – keep a running count of the days in school (I do this on the wall in a large format and have the students keep track individually as well)
- Number of the Day – Number sense activities like place value, expanded form, and more/less; also includes a Balance the Scale page for using coins to make the number of the day two ways
- Daily Graph – This section has a variety of options – from the lines, students write on to the number of choices for answers (from 2-5). Students can copy a question of the day and gather data from their classmates, tally it, graph it, and then answer questions about the data.
⏰ C.O.R.E. Binder Math Mats –
There are a wide variety of math mats available covering so much of what K-1 students need in math! These mats are perfect for use in math class when we need to practice a skill and they’re all in one place which is a win-win for everyone (saving time and preventing lost materials).
Students get these out to use during free-choice time because they love them so much. While I often use them as math helpers rather than having students try to draw the organizer on their whiteboard (and get frustrated and spend a bunch of time doing it), most of these activities also have directions for activities to use them with aside from their general math usage. They can be used as a ‘choose your own adventure’ since they’re multi-purpose or as the given activity. Some of them include using math manipulatives such as linking chains, pattern blocks, and counting bears.
Included Work Mats –
- Time
- To the Hour and Half Hour
- To the Hour, Quarter Hour, and Half Hour
- Traceable 5 Minute Increments to the Hour, Quarter Hour, and Half Hour
- To the Hour, Quarter Hour, and Half Hour with 5 Minute Increments
- Count By
- Traceable Count by Twos to 100
- Count by Fives to 100 Traceable numbers
- Traceable Count by Tens to 100
- Number Words
- Number Word and Numeral Writing
- Equivalent Number Models
- Balancing the Scale dice activity with number model/equation writing (addition or subtraction – you choose)
- Numbers Before & After
- Roll two of your choice of dice (or one, up to you!) to create a two-digit number and write the two numbers before and after. Two of these mats are included – one with more support than the other.
- One More/Less & Ten More/Less
- Three fillable one more/one less, ten more/ten fewer boxes per mat
- Part-Part-Whole
- Lots of options with this one for all the mats – use manipulatives or write the numbers or fill in the parts or a part and the whole
- Part-part-whole with four addition equation spots
- Showing the relation of fact families with part-part-whole (2 addition, 2 subtraction equation spots)
- Part-part-whole with the equal sign on both sides of the equation ( __ = __ + __ and __ + __ = __ )
- Part-part-whole and the relation to fact families with the equal sign on both sides of the equation
- Place Value
- Tens and Ones – with dice activity instructions and a spot to write an equation (or use it as you see fit!)
- Hundreds, Tens, and Ones – with dice activity instructions and a spot to write an equation (or use it as you see fit!)
Operations with Manipulatives and Math Tools –
- Domino Addition & Subtraction
- Blank Addition Card – select dominoes, draw, and use to write addition equations
- Blank Subtraction Card – select dominoes, draw, and use to write subtraction equations
- Addition Sums of 10 – given one side of dots and the sum, students fill in the missing side (part) and write the equation
- Addition Sums to 9 – given one side of dots and the sum, students fill in the missing side (part) and write the equation
- Patterns
- Counting Bear ABA Patterns
- Counting Bear ABC Patterns
- Bear Counters ABBA Patterns
- Counting Bear Make Your Own Patterns
- Links Make Your Own Patterns
- Bead Rack
- Blank and with beads
- Symmetry Pattern Blocks
- 10 different make the symmetrical design sheets
? Daily ELA Resources –
Word of the Day has four different options with different content and lines for students to write on which increase in complexity. I use this with sight words or new vocabulary. Some of the options include rainbow writing the word, drawing it, and mix it/make it with letter manipulatives.
? ELA Mats –
- Alphabet and Beginning Sounds
- Trace and write the letter, trace the beginning sound word
- Trace and write the letter, draw a beginning sound word
- Retelling Fiction & Non-Fiction
- Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then Organizer
- First, Next, Then, After that, Finally Organizer (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- First, Next, Then, After that, Last Organizer (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- 3-2-1 Organizer (2 – each with different style lines for writing)
- How-To Organizer (2 – each with different style lines for writing)
- How-To Writing Templates (2 – each with different style lines for writing)
? Other Resources –
- Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Left/Right, Seasons Traceable Reference Page (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Left/Right, Seasons Reference Page (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- Color Words, Number Words with Ten Frames Reference Page
- Traceable Numbers, Color Words, and Number Words Reference Page
- Color Words, Numbers, and Number Words Reference Page
? Blank Calendars –
- Rainbow colors with a blank spot to write the month, days of the week, and number the days
- Multiple colors with a blank spot to draw a seasonal picture, write the month, days of the week, and number the days
- Rainbow colors with days of the week written, a blank spot to write the month, and a blank spot to number the days
- Multiple colors with days of the week written, a blank spot to draw a seasonal picture, a blank spot to write the month, and a blank spot to number the days
- Rainbow colors with the month and days of the week written and a blank spot to number the days
? C.O.R.E. Binder Math Resources –
Number Sense Activities
- Numbers 0-10
- Trace with arrows and write numerals with the appropriate number of images (0-10 on 2 pages)
- With arrows, trace and write numerals with a blank, fillable ten frames (0-10 on 2 pages)
- Trace with arrows and write numerals with a spot to draw that many items (0-10 on 2 pages)
- Trace and write numerals with the appropriate number of images
- Write and trace numerals with a blank, fillable ten frames
- Trace and write numerals with a spot to draw that many items
- 100 Chart
- Blank, fillable
- Traceable
- Circle all the even numbers
- Circle the count by 5s
- Reference page
- 120 Chart
- Blank, fillable
- Traceable
- Circle all the even numbers
- Circle the count by 5s
- Reference page
- Number Lines
- 0-50 counting by ones
- 0-100 counting by twos
- Counting by fives 0-250
- 0-500 counting by tens
Geometry and Measurement C.O.R.E. Binder Activities
- 2D Shapes
- Reference page with circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, heart, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, trapezoid, and rhombus
- TraceableReference page with circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, heart, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, trapezoid, and rhombus
- 3D Shapes
- Reference page with sphere, cube, cone, rectangular prism, cylinder, pyramid, triangular prism, pentagonal prism, and hexagonal prism
- Traceable reference page with sphere, cube, cone, rectangular prism, cylinder, pyramid, triangular prism, pentagonal prism, and hexagonal prism
- Money
- Traceable reference page with value (one cent, five cents…) and amount written with a dollar sign and cent symbol for penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar
- Reference page with value (one cent, five cents…) and amount written with a dollar sign and cent symbol for penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar
- Fractions Bar
- Rainbow colored reference page
- Rainbow colored fill in the fraction reference page
- Pie Charts
- Color the pie chart to match the fraction and fraction with words reference page
- Reference page with a pie chart, fraction, and fraction with words
- Write the fraction to match the pie chart and fraction with words reference page
? ELA Resources –
Phonics Skills Binder Charts
- Alphabet
- Traceable capital and lowercase letter reference page
- Reference page
- Blends and R-Controlled Vowels
- Blends – bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, sw
- R-Controlled Vowels – ar, or, er, ir, ur
- Traceable blends and r-controlled vowels reference page
- Blends and r-controlled vowels reference page
- Digraphs, Trigraphs, and Long Vowels
- Digraphs – ch, ph, sh, th, wh
- Trigraphs – scr, shr, spl, spr, squ, str, thr
- Traceable digraphs, trigraphs, and long vowels reference page
- Digraphs, trigraphs, and long vowels reference page
- Sound Wall
- Traceable reference page – long a, long e, long i, long o, long u (2 versions – one with a colored background for each sound and one with white background)
- Reference page – long a, long e, long i, long o, long u (2 versions – one with a colored background for each sound and one with a white background)
- Traceable sound wall reference page version 2 – includes some diphthongs, vowel teams, silent letter words, hard and soft g, and c
- Sound wall reference page version 2 – includes some diphthongs, vowel teams, silent letter words, hard and soft g, and c
Fluency C.O.R.E. Binder References
- Sight Words
- Editable personal sight word list in ABC order
- Fry’s First 100 in ABC order
- Fry’s Second 100 in ABC order
- Third Fry’s 100 in ABC order
- Decoding Strategies
- Reference page for decoding strategies including looking for chunks you know, saying the word slowly, and rereading the sentence to try it again
- Five Finger Retell (Fiction & Non-Fiction)
- Fiction
- The Setting, Characters, Beginning, Middle, and End (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- Non-Fiction
- Main Idea or Topic, Fact 1, Fact 2, Fact 3, “I wonder…” (3 – each with different skin tone hands)
- Fiction
? Word Families –
- -ab, -ad, -ag, -all, -am, -an, -ap, -at, -eb, -ed, -eg, -en, -et, -ib, -id, -ig, -in, -ip, -it, -ing, -ob, -od, -og, -op, -ot, -ub, -ud, -ug, -um, -un, -up, -ut
- 3 versions:
- Write word family words and draw a picture
- Write word family words – primary lines
- Single line – Write word family words
? Word Sliders –
- 8 words per page
- 14 unique pages
? Phonics Cards –
- Phoneme Replacement (Middle)
- Editable page
- 7 unique pages
- Phoneme Replacement (End)
- Editable page
- 7 unique pages
- Silent E – change CVC to CVCe
- Editable page
- 6 unique pages
??? With the multiple levels available in this resource, the ease of having everything in one place, and the comprehensiveness, everyone is sure to find just what they need multiple times during your day. Save yourself time and energy and check this C.O.R.E. Binder out!
WRITTEN BY: KRISTIN HALVERSON, NBCT
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