Organizing Task Cards

I use a lot of task cards in my classroom and I've tried many ways to organize them. I found that manila envelopes are cheap but get ruined very quickly. Rubber bands keep them together but aren't something I want the kids to have and they never get put back correctly. Last year I found several plastic organizer boxes that were the right size. I got index card dividers to put between them...

Not bad, right? It worked fairly well but I still had a few problems. One was flipping through the box to find the set I wanted. Even more importantly, I still didn't have anything to keep the cards in when in use, like at centers. 

So I've been on the lookout for something better and I think I may have hit the jackpot...

I found these thick poly-something envelopes on Amazon. They are the perfect size and are gusseted so they expand if you have a really large set of cards. I really love how they are transparent enough to see what's inside. They also have a string closure - the kind where you wind the string around a little round doo-hicky - so they won't be falling out all over the place. 

 

They are kind of pricy (6 assorted colors for $7.98) but plastic poly stuff that they're made of is nice and sturdy. They should stand up to a lot of use and abuse. I think I'll use my handy-dandy label maker and put a label in the top corner of each one. That way I can stand them up in a basket and be able to quickly find the set I need. I think these will work out nicely! 

How do you store and organize your task cards? Leave a comment and let me know!