This summer, I’ll be teaming up with some really great bloggers with a summer linky, Diggin’ Into Next Year. This linky is hosted by Laura over at Where The Magic Happens!
Organize my classroom!
In my head, I am very organized, and I know where everything is. I can tell you where anything in my classroom is. This is what my class cabinets look like.
I have containers in the top cabinets with all of our art supplies. I forgot to take pictures inside the cabinets. 🙁 Sorry! The bottom houses headphones in individual baggies, as well as Lysol, Clorox Wipes, and things of that nature.
I absolutely love the built-in cabinets. The two on the very left were not cleaned out when I moved into the room. This was a bunch of stuff that I wasn’t sure about throwing out, since I was new to the school. I did not use either of those the entire year. The third houses all of our extra math manipulatives, a huge bin of markers, and other things for which I couldn’t find a place. The fourth kept all of my extra crayons and small group reading materials. Each lesson is bagged up with the lesson number on the bag. Then, I placed all of a theme in a bin together. Each new theme, I pulled out the entire bin and sat it next to my reading table. I only had to grab the bag for that week with the books inside of it.
My math materials all sorted. These storage bins were the best investment I’ve ever made. They’re really durable. The only thing that I’m not a fan of is the fact that the handles can and do come off. Other than that, they slide nicely on top of each other and hold a good amount of manipulatives. I will be looking for more this summer to which to move the items in the blue bins. The top is all math, and the bottom contains reading things.
Each math tub has a label, and I can find everything super easily. I mod-podged them on without laminating them. They actually stayed the entire year.
Excuse the dust (LOL). The reading materials are in the blue bins, except for the dice boxes. I have my CVC and CVCC rods, letter cubes, letter dice, letter tiles, puzzles, and anything else that correlates with reading in these.
Most of my books are housed here. This was changed by the end of the year. I forgot to take a picture of them at the end of the year. Each bin has a label, as well. I can easily pull a bin when I need it. I keep all of the books that I wouldn’t want my kids to touch on a shelf by me.
My student’s B.E.E. binders were put in crates. Of course, this had a huge label. The pink was for girls, and the blue was for boys.
My teacher organizer toolbox.
This is the way I started student supplies on the desk. They had a garbage can, a pencil cup, and a crayons cup.
My LOVELY crate seats that are going on year five. I LOVE these things. Seriously. I keep so much hidden and stored in these that it’s unreal. People think that I don’t have that much in my room, but it’s all hidden in these. I have 13 crates in my room in all. They got moved around the room all year, but I think I pretty much know where I would like them now.
I won’t be changing too much. One thing that I had a hard time keeping organized was my monthly/themed items. I placed all of my center materials inside of those mailing envelopes and started placing them in the Sterilite drawers. I started the year with two. One has five drawers, and the other has three. It worked at the beginning to keep a drawer for each month. However, some months had more than other months, and I couldn’t fit it all in. I am really thinking about buying these.
I have a huge shelving thing in my restroom that can be cleaned off. I can put these there. I think it will make more sense than what’s there already. I didn’t have time to really organize what’s in there last summer either, and it’s on my to-do list for this summer to clean it off. I saw a post a while back using these, and she put labels for each of the themed items that she placed in here. This will also allow for larger items, such as dice, pointers, or whatever else may have been pulled for particular games that don’t really fit into the Sterilite drawers.
I think I will use the Sterilite drawers to sort my guided math and guided reading materials for the year. I plan to plan way ahead and get everything made for the year. It’s a huge task, I know, but I think it can be done.
I also will be changing my labels on all of my things in my room. My books will get the biggest makeover. I plan on making labels to go with each of the labels that will be on the book bins. I’m not 100% sure if I want to stick with the color/shape deal or if I’ll just change it to a picture. The thing about a picture is that I get tired of looking at certain pictures after a while. The shape/color combo won’t get old to me. I didn’t have time last summer to get them all attached to books, but I did get the shape/color combo on the book bin labels.
I am not doing student supplies the same. I like starting the year off with everyone using the same materials, learning how to share, and just being responsible as a table, but circular tables just do not work for me with something in the middle and name tags around that. I am not a fan of circle tables. I am on the hunt for something else to house their supplies at the beginning of the year. I ended up giving everyone a crayon box and allowing them to keep their things in their desk. This caused many arguments that I cannot stand. I had to hear, “That’s my crayon” or “She took my pencil.” UGH. I loathe arguments and bickering, which is why I prefer having all of the supplies on the table.
I have seen where classes have the Sterilite drawers, and each child gets a drawer. That could work, as well, but the ownership thing will still be there.
I loved the way that I had my art materials, reading materials, and everything that cannot be seen organized. The two crates for my student binders also worked really well all year long. My crates are a forever friend. They will stick with me forever.
You can organize your classroom with a coordinating theme with these products.
Don’t forget to head over to Laura’s site where everyone has linked up!
What great ideas! I love all of your colorful labels on your buckets. I also like how your seat crates are around the carpet. Do students sit there while the class is on the carpet? I made some this year, but can't quite decide how I want to use them.
-Amanda
Kindergarten Teacher at the Wheel
They did sit around the carpet when I didn't have one large enough for everyone. I got a new rug and then moved the crates to different little spots in the room. I also took all my chairs away from my reading table and put 6 crates there.