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What’s In My Orton-Gillingham File Folder?

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Hi everyone! I’m back with some tips for using Orton-Gillingham materials. You’ve made a big investment and want to implement them well. You may notice that the volume of printable materials needed really does a number on your ink supply. Or perhaps there are things you’d love to laminate, but either have no time or no access to a laminator. This post is for you. 
Over the years, I’ve thought about ways to make my OG lessons more portable and streamlined, but still multisensory and engaging. You may have seen my posts called, “What’s In My OG Bag?” or “What’s In My OG Notebook?” Making OG resources more portable and streamlined is helpful, especially if you have to travel to deliver instruction. OR, you may have resources that you’d love to have your students use for extra practice at home. 
Last week, I searched around in my office supplies and came across a pile of manila file folders and some plastic sheet protectors. If I could turn a file folder into a wipe off surface AND a practice tool, this would really save on ink, paper, and time! Plus, the folder could travel with my students. So here is how I turned an ordinary manila file folder in a powerful and portable learning tool.
For the following examples, I used materials from my CK Pack. First, I took one manila file folder and four, plastic sheet protectors. I trimmed off the border with three holes on each sheet protector. Then, I stapled one sheet protector to each side of the file folder. As I stapled, I was thinking you might also use some Velcro dots as an alternative to stapling.

I wanted to include some of the essential components of my OG lesson that will also serve as good review if I send the folder home with a student. Everything I choose will be placed into a plastic sheet protector.

*This instantly created a useful write and wipe surface for any side!*

On the front, I have a phonogram mini poster with the lesson focus. Alternatively, I might change the front to a mini poster for teaching a spelling generalization from my OG Materials pack, and feature a specific spelling rule. On the inside,  I placed a play-dough mat from my Play-Dough Phonogram Mats and a word list from my OG Words and Sentences Bundle.

Here are some other options. Keep the word list present to keep the lesson focus, but switch up the reading practice. You can use sentence strips or a decodable story. Provide different colored dry erase markers and an eraser for students to highlight, circle, underline, syllabicate, code or mark up any of
the text.

If you are doing a review lesson, place extra sheets behind the word list or story. Then just slide them to the front for more write and wipe practice.

My favorite part of the OG lesson is when I get to play games with my students. I can say with certainty that it’s my students’ favorite time as well. Games in OG are not only quick and easy to set up, but provide such wonderful practice.  I placed the game materials in the back of the folder. Cut the word cards apart, placed them in an envelope, and slid them behind the game board.

Does this file folder system sound like something you could try out? Perhaps it could be an easy system for summer remediation. If you think you have an idea of how you’d use it, please comment below. You can click here for any of the Orton-Gillingham materials I discussed in this post. Be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter. You’ll see a place to sign up on the right sidebar of this page. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

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9 replies
  2. Desiree Shaw
    Desiree Shaw says:

    The idea of making these lessons portable is fantastic! I'm tutoring a handful of students over the summer 1x per week which makes it tricky to master concepts in a timely manner. Having these file folders created will be a HUGE help as I can send them home for practice until we meet again the next week. I've referred to your blog so many times over the past few weeks for inspiration, so thank you!

    Reply
  3. Desiree Shaw
    Desiree Shaw says:

    The idea of making these lessons portable is fantastic! I'm tutoring a handful of students over the summer 1x per week which makes it tricky to master concepts in a timely manner. Having these file folders created will be a HUGE help as I can send them home for practice until we meet again the next week. I've referred to your blog so many times over the past few weeks for inspiration, so thank you!

    Reply

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