BEE Book Take Home Folders

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I purchase and put together the BEE Books for my class. I like the folders to be uniform and it gives me a chance to have them ready for the first day of school. I always choose bright yellow folders for my BEE Books, because bees. Black folders would also be a perfect fit! I buy the poly portfolios with prongs as they have the best chance of lasting throughout the school year.

You can include as little or as much inside as you want. I keep mine fairly simple. On the outside I add a cute label with my kiddos’ names (you can add student numbers, too).

On the inside I label the left and right pockets. The left side is for papers that should be LEFT at home. These might include completed papers, school flyers… anything that can be taken out and stay at home. The right side is for papers that should come RIGHT back to school. These might include notices or test papers that need signatures, homework to complete… anything that you want to see again.

I also include a 3-hole pencil pouch in the BEE that we use for money and notes. Without it, money for lunch, field trips, and book orders was lost in pockets and desks, and notes to me were crumpled in the bottom of backpacks. Now we all know where to put and look for these items!

As I mentioned above, I keep my BEEs simple. Aside from the labeled pockets and zipper pouch, I add in two clear page protectors for our spelling menu and homework/skills assignment sheet. I also 3-hole punch our behavior calendars and pop them in the BEE, too. If you use a clip chart, you can even stick a mini version inside so parents are aware of the color code!

BEE Books go home with students every afternoon, and come back to school every morning. My firsties know that when they empty their backpacks in the morning, their BEEs go in a specific bin, and that they aren’t supposed to take anything out (either myself or my aide will go through it). If you teach older kids, you can assign more responsibility… or even as the year progresses with the young ones!

If you want to make your own BEE Books for your class, I provided the cover and inside labels in my *editable* Notebook & Folder Labels pack. There are tons of other labels, too! You just type your class list in ONCE and student names will autofill on EVERY page of labels. So easy! They are made to go on these Avery labels because they are nice and big.