Stuffing Folders by Semester

During the 2020-21 school year, I had several students who attended virtually instead of in-person.  When thinking about all the sheet music and handouts I give students throughout the year, I had to figure out how to address that with my virtual students.  I couldn't assume families had a printer at home, and I couldn't assume they could stop at the school office to pick up something anytime I had a new piece of music or handout.  And what about in-person students who might be at home quarantining for a week, but still attending school virtually?  I decided to make copies of everything students would be getting from me for the entire semester, paperclip it together, and stuff folders that way.

It worked really well, so I've been doing it that way ever since.  While it is a ton of time up-front, I feel it saves a lot of time during the school year--no need to be in the copy room every week running off the next thing.  No need to keep track of who was absent the week I handed out which piece and make sure they get it the following week.  When someone forgets their folder, no need to give them the new piece and hope they put it in their folder when they get home and then have to give them a second copy the following week when that didn't happen.  If someone is absent, or attending virtually one week, no worries--they already have what they need in their folder!  

I have found that students are less likely to lose random pieces of music or handouts--everything just stays in the folder.  On rare occasions, a student will lose their entire folder.  After a couple weeks, if it still hasn't shown up, I may make a new folder for this student by grabbing the contents of a spare folder.  Then when I have some extra time, I can work on rebuilding the contents of the spare folder, but that's not so urgent.

So, how does this all happen?  I went to previous years' lesson plans and figured out which pieces/handouts students would need in a semester and roughly in which order we would get to them.  While concert pieces change each year, I can slot in a new concert piece in the place of a previous year's.  Before school starts, when I have more time and the copy machine isn't being used by anyone else, I will make copies of everything for the roster that signed up the previous spring plus extras for spare folders and in case of new sign-ups in the fall.  I color code each piece so they can be more easily found in the folder, and I color code compositions and other instrument-specific handouts by instrument (violin-purple, viola-yellow, cello-green, bass-blue).  As I'm making copies, I do each piece or handout in the same order (say, violin, viola, cello, bass), so each stack has the same instrument part on top.  I have a Google Doc with the list of contents and highlight or cross out the ones I've copied to help keep track.

Once everything is copied, it's assembly time!  I arrange the piles on a large counter chronologically through the semester and then start pulling the top piece of paper from each pile to make one student's stack of music.  I'll put a paper clip through everything except the one or two things that we'll use the first day of orchestra so that they don't have to pull anything out of that neat stack the first day and potentially make a mess of their papers already.

I'll stack up the new stacks to make a new pile.  If I've made the right number of copies and haven't accidentally pulled two papers at a time instead of one, all the pieces/handouts will arrive at the next instrument at the same time.  If not, time to double check for a student's pile that ended up with two of something or time to make a quick copy.

Finally the folders are ready to be stuffed!  The folders already have the student name/instrument/grade/teacher labeled across the top, a pencil on a piece of yarn taped inside, a fingering chart, and the concert dates for the year and list of contents also taped inside.

Any beginning 6th graders will also get some extra items in their folder--an open string harmony part to the D Major scale, an Alpha-note version of their D Major scale pieces, a double-sided "Jingle Bells" with both the 5th and 6th grade versions, and 5th grade parts for our String Fest pieces--so that we are ready for whatever they're ready for once we get there later in the year.

Once I have created the first small group schedule of the year, I will re-order the folders so they're in the order that I will see the students on the first day.  That way distributing folders is quick and easy!  Spare folders will go on their shelves for easy access when needed.