UFLI Foundations Organization Part 1: The Simple (But Genius) Way To Organize Your Printed Resources -

If you’re just getting started with the UFLI Foundations program, you may be struggling to get organized. Or maybe you’re just looking for a few ways to tighten up your current system. Either way, I’ve got you covered with my tried-and-true UFLI Foundations organization tips!

Now, let me be clear. I am not affiliated with the UFLI Foundations program in any way. I’m not an employee, an affiliate, or anything in between. I’m just a teacher who loves this phonics program!

Today, I’m showing you a real peek into my own classroom. You’ll see exactly how I organize my physical materials for instruction and why it works for me!

Key Takeaways Ahead:

Why UFLI Foundations Organization Matters
Start With These Two Considerations
My #1 UFLI Foundations Organization Tip
How I Organize Teacher Material
How I Organize Student Material
The Bottom Line
More UFLI Foundations Support

Why UFLI Foundations Organization Matters

I started teaching with the UFLI program in 2022. When I first got started, I knew I loved the instructional methods. However, I quickly realized that there were gaps – UFLI doesn’t provide any resources for small group instruction and supplemental practice. My students needed more, so I dove all-in to researching, creating, and testing supplemental resources that were tightly aligned with the UFLI scope and sequence.

Since then, I’ve made it my mission to create an efficient (and practical) organizational system – not only for my teacher materials, but also for the dozens of supplemental resources I’ve created for students. I literally use them daily, so I need to have them properly organized.

Whether you’ve purchased supplemental UFLI aligned units or not, you know how critical it is to get your resources organized.

So let’s get set up for success!

Start With These Two Considerations

What is your photocopying situation like?

Are you responsible for printing your own copies? Do you have to submit resources to be copied by the office staff? I personally have to print my copies from my laptop – and after 50 trips to the copier when my materials didn’t print, I knew I had to get organized.

So for me, it works best to have a printed master copy of all lessons, materials, supplemental worksheets. Then, I just pull what I need to copy here and there. If you’re able to send resources to an office assistant for bulk copying, you might want to send 5-10 units at a time. Of course, no matter what you choose, be mindful of your school’s printing policies.

Do you prefer organizing materials by individual lessons or by whole units/products?

When you purchase supplemental activities that align with the UFLI scope and sequence, do you prefer to store those separately, or along with the designated lesson? For example, if you purchase any of my units, you can separate the pages by lesson or you can keep them all together. Which option sounds better for your brain / your preferred methods? You’ll see how I like to organize all of my supplemental units by lesson – it’s just what works best for me.

Once you get a clear picture on these two considerations, you’re ready to move forward.

My #1 UFLI Foundations Organization Tip

Get A Plastic Tub With Hanging Files

It may sound ridiculously simple, but I promise you this is the most effective UFLI Foundations organization method I’ve found. I bought some plastic tubs and hanging files, then labeled each file by lesson.

I love this method for two main reasons:

The hanging files are quick to grab for whatever I need – small groups, photocopying, taking home on the weekend, etc.
Each lesson is kept separately, so I can break apart my massive supplemental units one-by-one. This way, I’m not flipping through all the pages of my Sentence Scramble unit, for example, to find the page for Lesson 12.

Truly, this simple system has revolutionized how I can teach with the UFLI materials!

How I Organize Teacher Material

Here’s exactly what teacher materials I put in my plastic tub:

Scope and Sequence: If you haven’t printed out the UFLI Scope and Sequence, you need to! I keep it at my fingertips because I refer to it daily. I highly recommend laminating it or tossing it into a page protector (because this thing is going to get worn down as you grab for it everyday!).

Teacher Scripts From My Orthographic Mapping Unit: I wrote a teacher script for 260 high-frequency words using the Heart Word method. The scripts explain why the words are spelled the way they are (whether or not they are heart words) and how they are orthographically mapped. I use these scripts every single day in my classroom for whole group instruction.

Write the Room Materials: I use my “Write the Room” activities weekly. The cards just make my hanging files too bulky, so I keep them in a separate bin. I grab each lesson’s materials as needed.

How I Organize Student Material

I typically include the following student materials in each hanging file folder:

Vocabulary Cards: I created these vocabulary cards when I realized that some of my students (particularly ELL students) were struggling due to their limited vocabulary. These cards serve as a visual aid to each term that the students will see in the UFLI program. *Note: you could also store these on a book ring for individual student use.

Additional Supplemental Resources: As I mentioned before, I saw a gap that needed to be filled in UFLI’s program – small group supplemental resources. So, I developed dozens of activities that are exactly aligned to the scope and sequence. I literally rely on these resources daily to engage my students in much-needed additional practice with the UFLI concepts. If you’re curious about some of my absolute favorites, check out this post.

I take each product and separate the pages into each individual lesson in my hanging file folders. Here are a few examples of what I have in my “Lesson 44” folder:

Check out my full library of UFLI Foundations Aligned Resources here.

The Bottom Line

This organizational system works for me, but you need to find what works best for you. I have found so much success from “building out” each UFLI lesson one-by-one with my supplemental resources, and having all of the pages together in one folder has been game changing.

I highly recommend that you give this system a try – you might be surprised by how effective it is!

More UFLI Foundations Support

Need more support? I’ve been teaching (and loving!) the UFLI Foundations program for years. I’ve developed dozens of high-quality, ready-to-use resources to supplement any phonics program. Check out my full store here.