Back to School Organization #3–Bulletin Boards

This time of the year I always enjoy browsing the bulletin board options at the school supply stores or online. It’s nice to refresh what I have every now and then. But, storing everything sometimes becomes a problem.
I love those expensive bulletin board storage pockets as seen below. You can purchase these for about $15.00 each. I don’t know about you but I like my sets to be organized by themes. So for me, I’d need about 15 of these at a cost of $200 plus.

And then there are less expensive options like these classroom storage keepers. And, even though they are less, they are also more bulky and tend to get heavy!

So, what do I do? I make my own storage pockets! The best part… FREE!

FIRST – Get 36 X 24 manila tag board. I got mine at my school.

NEXT – Fold the tag board in half. It should now measure 24 inches across the fold and 18 inches across the sides.

THEN – Staple along the sides. Decorate and label the top near the opening.

Now you have large storage pockets to store all of your die cuts, bulletin board items, or anything flat. I have “artist’s” drawers so I lay all my storage pockets down in thematic order of when I teach during the year. If you don’t have artist’s drawers then you can easily stand them up in a closet.

How do you store your bulletin board items? I’d love to hear new ideas.

Terena

Back to School Organization #2–Table Kits

Using student table kits are a great way to organize your student materials. Although you can use bins, baskets, or other small containers, use what you are most comfortable with. I’ve used all the ideas presented here and change from year to year and sometimes during the school year as well.

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Tabletop bins like this above are more helpful at the beginning of the Kindergarten school year since they can hold a variety of materials and students learn to share.

Materials I’ve placed in these range. However, I always place crayons, pencils, large pink erasers, glue sticks, small whiteboard erasers, whiteboard pens, and sometimes resources like books and other manipulatives.

You can usually purchase these in the dollar spot at Target for $1 to $3.00 around this time of the year.

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Another way I’ve organized student kits is to purchase pencil boxes.

Although these are not as large or hold as much as the table top kits, it’s also a great way to organize student stuff. It takes a bit more to manage in Kindergarten in the beginning of the year but as time goes on, students become more responsible for their boxes.

I prefer the smaller boxes. Depending upon your teaching style, you may find that you need additional table top kits for your centers as well. I prefer table top kits at the tables but also the smaller pencil boxes for individual use at stations.

You can usually find the Sterilite brand above at Wal Mart for $.50 to $.75 right now.

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Finally, another way to organize student materials is by using Ziploc bags. It’s more inexpensive to purchase the bags in the beginning but will most likely cost you more in the long run.

Should you try this method, be sure to get the zippers and the freezer type bag as they hold up better. Also, you will probably spend more time teaching your students how to be more responsible as they tend to toss these around.

And, of course you can find these most anywhere for less. I’ve tried the Target brand but found I liked the Ziploc the best.

If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Terena

Back to School Organization #1 - Centers

Classroom centers are an important part of self directed learning and exploring new ideas. Centers range from classroom areas to various curriculum activities to a multitude of rotations where everyone gets a turn to learn. And, as you continue to teach throughout the many years, you’ll collect lots of center “stuff.” With so many variables, it’s sometimes hard to remember what centers you’ve even set up throughout the year!

Therefore, it’s important to establish a way to organize your centers. Following are some ideas I use in my classroom.

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First, I organize my closet space by curricular areas. These pictures are just samples to help you get started. I also organize science and social studies this way.

    

Next, I organize all the activities and games I have for each of these areas. For example, the pictures below (sight word activity centers) are activities I have lined up on the shelf labeled Word Work & Phonics.




The next set of pictures are activities I have organized in my math cabinet shelves. These resources are placed on the shelf labeled Geometry Activities. (Tip: I organize my math shelves by the Common Core Standards)



Finally, I took pictures of EVERYTHING I use in my centers and placed the pictures in a 4X6 filing box with the same labels as my cabinets.

Now I can easily reference all of my center activities and games in one handy 4 by 6 filing box by the 4 main areas in Language Arts and the Math Common Core Standards right from my teacher’s table. And, it’s portable for those times when I need to take it with me and plan my lessons at home or elsewhere.
In addition, I never use the same center game over and over again when I have so many to choose from. And, when I need to rotate the same activity back in the mix, it’s easier to make it more challenging the second time around. The kids never get bored and learning continues to spiral in new ways.

How do you organize your centers and stations?

Terena

Back to School Organization Tips

Over the next few weeks as we all get ready to go back to school, I will be sharing several organizational tips. If you’re a new teacher looking for a few ideas, a seasoned teacher needing a little spark, or maybe some of these ideas just slipped your mind… there’s a little bit for everyone.

So, stay tuned during the remainder of July for helpful organizational tips.

Terena