A couple weeks ago, I talked a little bit about how we try to control our school year paper clutter by letting our kiddos choose what they want to hang on our DIY Art Display Wall. We enjoy their art for as long as they want it to hang and then recycle it. It’s worked great for us to cut down on refrigerator and paper clutter. I didn’t mention though what we do with the really special stuff that we want to hang on to for them to look back on when they are grown. Until this year, I was keeping some things in a tub in their closet that we wanted to keep and kept putting off taking the time to organize it. This past school year for the first time, we had two kiddos bringing home projects and I knew I needed to figure out a better way before we didn’t even know what belonged to which child anymore.

 

 

I created this printable (which is here free for you to download!) to put with each year’s folder of things to keep. It has a short end of the year survey, a place to put a 3 x 5 school picture from that year and (my favorite) a place for them to sign their name. I love the idea of being able to look back on how their ‘signature’ changed each year. **The font on this printable is the adorable Pea Alesa from Kevin and Amanda. I love, love their fonts!**

 

 

 

I glued the completed sheets to the front of a file folder, labeled it with the school year and put all their items to keep in it or behind it. For each kiddo, I kept report cards and notes from their teachers, their class picture, the yearbook and some of our very favorite work they did. Eli had some adorable projects with his hand print on them that I couldn’t resist keeping and Caleb had a few books they had put together in kindergarten (a daily journal, a birthday book with pictures from all his friends, and a scrapbook of their class trip to ‘China’) plus some amazing art projects that I know we will love to look back on. It’s not a lot of things but enough for us to remember this school year and the progress they made.

 

 

For now, their papers are in a printer paper box that I covered in leftover fabric from other projects but eventually as they grow, I will probably buy plastic tubs like these to store their things in. My goal is to hang on to a small folder of things from each year of school that they will take with them someday when they are on their own.

 

 

If you still have stuff from last school year you want to keep or you want to be ready for this coming year, download my free printable or pin it for later!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

 

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