Organizationally challenged? Child traveling between several parents and school? Having a hard time keeping all important school papers together? B.E.A.R. books are the answer (Bring Everything Always Ready)! These 3-ringed binders will travel with my 1st grade students to school and back home EVERY day! My goal is to implement an organization system that will help my students become more responsible while keeping their family members informed. Almost 50% of my students travel between two different households. Therefore, many parents are not always kept informed of our daily activities, homework assignments, papers that need to be signed and returned, and special events. I would like to create class B.E.A.R. books to help address this problem. B.E.A.R. is an acronym for Bring Everything Always Ready. These books are a 3-ring binder, put together by the teacher that houses EVERYTHING students and parents need to keep up with what is going on at school. I combine homework folders, with a parent communication log, reading log, class information, newsletters and calendars, an area where papers need to be signed and returned, and papers that students are bringing home. I have done this on my own for three years and it has been extremely successful. In the past I have struggled with students who traveled between several households and sometimes both sets of parents do not receive all important class information. With B.E.A.R. books, students need to bring them to school every day so wherever they are, they should have their B.E.A.R. book with them. I have received so many positive comments regarding this organizational tool. Students also learn to be more responsible for their papers, too. Why are they important? These notebooks helps students establish good organizational skills their first year of school - skills that can carry on throughout their time in school. During the day we will keep our B.E.A.R. books on a shelf. B.E.A.R. books go home everyday! Children will be very proud of their books, and parents will know just where to look for important information. Since I also have students that receive various special education support, other teachers also can use the children's B.E.A.R. book to communicate with caregivers. In the past, I bought most of the materials myself or received some materials through written requests from various office supply stores. I have depleted my supplies and would really like to continue creating B.E.A.R. books for my next class. With your donations, I will be able to purchase 3-ring binders (one for each student), a zippered pouch (1 for each student) to put lunch money, doctor's notes, etc.. in, binder pockets (2 for each student) to put their papers in, a package of white labels to print what goes in each pocket and in the zippered pouch, 1 ream of bright colored paper to use as section dividers, 1 package of white card stock to create the cover and spine of each book, as well as sight word lists and other academic information, and one combo pack of ink to print out all of the information. I really appreciate your time reading this proposal and any help you can offer! Thank you so much!