Build a Poem is a top pick amongst the kiddos in my academic skills groups (K-2). With a growing collection of poems, I had to find a solution for organizing and storing the poems and word cards. Here is a look at what I have found to work best, along with a FREEBIE for you to use when organizing your centers.
To assure I'd have enough room as I continue building my collection, I purchased a large 3" binder. The page protectors, recycled from old binders hiding in the back of my cabinet, are used to store the poems.
Based on a lesson learned; I now put each poem's word cards in a zip-loc before placing them in the page protector. Otherwise, if the binder is accidently carried upside-down, the word cards can spill everywhere. Not fun! This way, if they do fall out, they are still kept together in the zip-loc baggy. :)
There are several ways you can store the poems, such as alphabetical, themes, or by focus skills. Personally, I like storing mine by seasonal order. (Back to school, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on.)
When I'm ready to change the pocket chart center, I simply open my binder and take out the poem and word cards. Using clothespins, I hang the poem at the top of the pocket chart, then mix up the word cards at the bottom.
Using this binder has helped me organize my Build a Poem pocket chart centers. Now, I can quickly find poems, see which ones are able to be personalized, and grab the word cards; it's everything I need for this class favorite!
