Back to School Clean UP!

Officially I don't have to be back at work until Monday, August 5th. However, I decided to get a jump start on things, and man am I glad I did. This year I will be teaching fifth grade, so moving classroom happened along with making new anchor charts and activities for my classroom. The classroom I was moved to was a disaster! The teachers who "lived" there before me were not organized and stuff was just shoved in cabinets and drawers. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not organized myself but in my old classroom I at least knew where everything was. To start off I took everything out of the cabinets, off the shelves, and out of the drawers. I thew out pounds upon pounds of garbage, and recycled tons of papers. Man, did it feel good to have a handle on my new classroom. I couldn't have done it without the help of some lovely friends. Now, all my cabinets are organized school supplies are in bins with labels, posters are laying flat in cabinets, books are in place and now everything has its very own spot! My teacher resources are now organized by subject with labels and teachers guides and supplements are within my reach! It just makes me even more excited to start on my new teaching adventure!

In my quest to become more organized I have made some new things with the help of Pinterest! (My best friend!) I have three bins for my and my assistant teachers use. One is to be graded, one is to be passed out, one is to be filed. I plan to use these bins to keep my paperwork in check. Now that my students will be getting real grades and I have to keep track of them, I am hoping this will help. I also, have bought these little circular bins from the dollar store to keep at my computer for easy access to paperclips, pushpins, and staples. I don't know about you, but I am never at my desk and often need these materials. 

One place where I am begging for help from all of you, is how to you organize all of your copies. I have tried little cubbies with labels for each day of the week, but I can never seem to keep up with it. My copies often end up on the front carpet in stacks waiting to be used. Do ya'll have any methods that work? I am willing to try anything. I want more than anything to be organized with my stuff. 

Before and almost after pictures of my classroom. I am almost there being organized and done, but not quite! :)
I wish I had pictures of my organized cabinets, but I just have pictures of the top of them!

Before: With all the "stuff" out

 After: All the "stuff" in it's place
 After: A sneak peek to my classroom.. That's for next weeks post!


Comments

  1. It looks like you made a lot of progress! There is nothing worse than having to clean up after someone else's stuff! I love the bins but since you don't you might just want to try a file box where you can label folders with whatever works best for you. You can color code them for the subject then do days of the week sections inside. It really all depends on what works for your class. Good luck!

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  2. I remember moving into another classroom. It is hard work reorganizing your things. At least the teacher before left you stuff to actually look through and work with. When I moved to a different grade level the teacher didn't leave me anything. I came into a literally empty room. She even took chairs and the desk! My classroom was empty. Not sure how that was acceptable, but it happened and let's just say that is all I will say about that.

    Anyway, to help your organization with your copies, maybe a mailbox or some kind of file folder box labeled with subject might help. I had a big storage closet next to my room in the hallway and I was able to stack copies from the coping center in there so that was very handy. I kept all my subjects stacked in order of units that were ready to be handed out when I needed to.

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    1. Iris- thanks for your suggestion! You seem super organized, and I can't believe the teacher left you with nothing, not even desks! That is crazy!!!

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  3. I only make copies by the week, so I don't have TONS of stacks of paper with copies for months at a time. I'm going to attach a URL to a Pin on my teaching board that is actually a picture of my room. I use manila file holders labeled with each day of the week to keep my copies organized. It's also helpful in case I have an unexpected sub one day, it's nice to know exactly where to direct them to find the materials for that day. Let me know if the link doesn't work and I can email you the picture or something :)

    http://pinterest.com/pin/234327986832704228/

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    1. Thank you so much for this picture and I am going to TRY so hard to do this and keep it organized! :) I'll let you know how it goes!

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