Now that school is over (shhhhh…I already know that supplies are already out in Target, Walmart, and other places – but I refuse to acknowledge that as an elementary school teacher who just finished summer school), you may find yourself drowning in papers, art projects and other wonderful things your child has brought home over the past nine months and especially in late May/early June. You are not alone. Even as a teacher, who sends a lot of that paper home, I am also swimming in my children’s papers and art projects.
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Here are a few quick and easy ideas to save, preserve, or memorialize your children’s work.
Writing –
If your child has wonderfully written essays that you don’t want to get crumpled in a drawer or file, you could pick up some inexpensive sheet protectors and place them in a binder dividing them into grade levels, subject areas, or you could put each grade levels work into ½ inch or 1-inch binders. The older the students get, the less paper they will bring home, but you get the picture.
Art Projects –
I think at last count, I had about 8 clay jewelry holders, or the equivalent of an ashtray, from one of my children. While I love them, I’m running out of room. Also, some of the beautiful paper art projects just are hard to keep from wrinkling, getting torn or getting wet, sticky, or well you get the point. One amazing way to keep them is to use Shutterfly, Snapfish, or any of the other equivalent sites to create memory books of their art. Occasionally, you will receive a free 8×8 book from Shutterfly on the back of receipts from grocery stores or print-out coupons that come with your receipt. You could also do this with writing if you don’t want the actual paper kept. This way, they are nice and easy to put on a shelf and won’t collect as much dust.
Any other papers that you may want to keep –
The obvious one for this is a file cabinet. You could hear the squeak of the drawer, couldn’t you? Ha ha…Anyway, a few other ways are using a wrapping paper roll storage bag or something else that can fit easily under the bed or in storage – something like this*. You could also use some sort of storage bin* that can go in a closet or basement storage but has a lid to keep all of the pesky dust bunnies away and other curious pets.
These are just a few to help you with the spring/summer/I don’t have time to clean or organize cleaning. I’m still ignoring the fact that school supplies are out. However, I don’t mind this conversation. What ideas do you have?
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Thanks for the tips! I am on phase 2 of this, having gone through once and eliminated any worksheets etc. I’m behind this year due to moving house. I keep anything that holds a memory for them in storage bins although, I know there will be a time where space will be limited. I like the Shutterfly idea. It’ll give me something to do once they have finished schooling and I am retired! 🤣
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