New Student Bags

I work in a very transient district.  We are a TITLE I district.  Many of our kids attend our schools, move, and end up coming back...lots of times during the same school year.  In addition, in first grade, we have so many things that are labeled with names or numbers...name tags, cubbies, equity sticks, clip chart clips, etc...Because of all of this, getting a new student can be overwhelming!  A few years ago, I started "collecting" all my extra "things" that I used for classroom setup at the start of the year. I just tossed them in a plastic container.  It was great having them at my fingertips, but annoying to have to dig through the stuff to find what I needed.  I knew I needed a better solution. That's when "New Student Bags" were born!  To make these bags, I printed out some "NEW STUDENT" labels and slapped them on about 6 gallon Ziploc bags.  Inside, I placed everything I would need should I get a new student, including forms, name tags and hundreds charts, clothespins, equity sticks and virtually anything else I could think of.  The only items not placed inside were workbooks and data binders; those are underneath in a container that houses the bags.   I love this system and will continue to do it forever!

How do you store extra materials for a new student?
xo
Megan