Hi friends! I'm here to share a super easy trick for organizing your classroom materials. This system will make it so much easier for you to quickly differentiate your centers and independent work for your students! It's definitely one of those things that I
wish I had started my first year of teaching because it's a life-changer in my classroom!
This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the qualifying links at no additional cost to you.
Most often, our special education classrooms are full of students whose instructional levels vary greatly. I like to have materials and activities that are easy for students to access independently and for my paras to assist with, but I want my students to complete tasks that are at their level. To do this effectively with minimal interruptions, I use a colored level system. When I purchase new activities, as I prep them, I organize them into one of my 5 colored levels. Each year, I assign students a color according to their level. When it's time for independent work, students grab a task of their color and get to work!
I use this for my file folders and centers & am in the process of color coding all of my task cards too.
My level system looks like this:
Red: Most difficult- 2nd-3rd grade reading level, numbers over 100, multiplication, division, fractions
Yellow: 1st grade reading level, counting and numbers to 100, WH questions, addition, subtraction and calculator math
Green: writing words, CVC words, sight words, counting & numbers to 20, letter sounds
Blue: Least difficult- identical matching, tracing, counting & numbers to 10, letter identification, etc.
Purple: Errorless
Here are some of the items that I use to keep everything organized.
The images are affiliate links- you can click on them if you're interested in purchasing!
Colored file folders: For my newest file folders, I am prepping them in the correct color so leveling is super easy!
Colored book bins: These are perfect for storing file folders!
Colored dot or star stickers: If you have regular manila file folders, just place a
sticker on the tab to level. You can level task cards with these as well.
Astrobrights paper: I print all of my center labels directly on Astrobrights paper, then attach the label to the baggie.
Do you level your classroom activities? I'd love to hear how!
