This year I made my kids work binders to store their written materials and booklets.
Because work journals are a frequently discussed component of lower elementary in the Montessori community, I thought I’d upload some photos to show what I’ve compiled.
Since we’re short on space, I’m just keeping the binders together in a basket. They’re standard half inch black binders, and on the first day of school, we’re going to create name acrostic poems together for the binder covers.
In the inside pocket there’s a blank calendar page. We’ll begin in September writing the days as we update our classroom calendar together.
Next is a handwriting practice page. Letter reversals are making me nuts, so we continue to pursue cursive. I laminated it as we will practice every day for the first couple weeks or so before moving onto some fun stuff I’ve made (namely holiday jokes and riddles to trace). I made this with a cursive generator, you can google for it and a few will come up. I believe Handwriting Without Tears has a few worksheet generator options too, but since they updated their website last, I’ve not really checked.
Up next is a page for charting the weather which is silly because the weather is the same every day. Afternoon showers, hot as hades, never, ever snows (especially not August in Florida).
We’ll start this on Monday. All the upcoming weather pages are free from Polka Dots and Pocket Charts on Teachers Pay Teachers. I love TPT, and I love freebies!
Next is an idea I totally swiped from Montessori Kiwi from a work journal video she shared. I highly recommend checking out her awesome Teachers Pay Teachers account. I just bought some great hundred board command cards from her store — such a time saver!
This is the work plan we will try this year. I had a checklist last year that worked well, so if this doesn’t pan out, I will return to that. But I’m attempting to be more flexible and check boxes aren’t very flexible.
At the beginning of each week we will sit together one on one, and either the child will write or dictate goals. I am going to try hard not to input my opinion and see where it takes us. I may suggest more of something we’ve been repeatedly skipping, but overall, going for student-led. The idea being that they will ultimately learn important executive function skills like time-management. I’ve bookended this idea with a weekly review which you’ll see toward the end.
Next is a printout that corresponds to our lovely Waseca Reading Program.
There’s four components to each drawer, so they’ll color these accordingly.
Then I’ve printed a week’s worth of cursive practice that also corresponds to the rainbow drawers. These are free in the Waseca Biomes PDF section.
At the end of each month, we will review weather patterns.
Each child chose a work folder for their binder. Inside we will keep whatever tracings and work that needs a home. Also I made little booklets including a word dictionary to be filled out throughout the year and a math scope and sequence check list for the year. The math scope and sequence printable is free from the marvelous Maitri Learning. Their articles and materials are so helpful! Highly recommended checking them out and reading everything.
Both the work plan and work journals are standard in Montessori elementary; here is my take. At the end of our daily three-hour work block, I will ask the kids to write a few words about what they worked on. Going for habit, not verbose record-keeping.
It can be as simple as, “Today I learned about math. I worked with Mary with the golden beads.”
Two more pages to mention…
The girls are in orchestra again for the third year this year. Right? Time flies!
This is the weekly practice chart from their teacher. I felt like it belonged here with the other daily works.
And last of all, you will find a weekly student evaluation. I designed this when we were talking about examinations of conscience prior to the girls making their first confessions. It seemed fitting. It is not meant to be critical, and if it doesn’t fit into the week it’ll be the first to go. But it is a component some Montessori schools use, and I thought it could be really helpful since the kids are creating their own work plan of action too.
Even though Mike is still finishing up his final year of Montessori primary, I have included him by making him a binder too. He will be six in December, so it made sense to just introduce it along with the girls.
There you have our Montessori-inspired work binders. Only a few more days until school begins!
Bonus photo of baby with the Gobbi:
