News You Can Use
Don’t Agonize. When Kimberly Jalbert first walked into her new classroom at Geiger Elementary School in Lewiston she was overwhelmed. She’d never worked in a public school before, and she inherited a classroom that had not been fully cleaned out from the previous teacher and ed techs who once used the room. The new Lewiston EA member won an organization makeover from her local association and put the prize to good use. The first step was sorting everything into categories, purging what was not necessary and then putting things in places that made sense and were easy to access. The trick now—staying this organized all year long.
Step 1: SORT
Step 3: ARRANGE & DESIGN When clutter takes over it’s hard to stop. Nearly every space in Kim’s new classroom was occupied with something—and the paper! The amount of paper was overwhelming for this new teacher. The first step was to go through everything from the worksheets to the manipulatives and categorize and sort.
This was the fun part! With a few new fresh ideas, like repurposing binder clips for hanging storage (below), everything had a new spot. Adding a rolling cart made a big difference, giving Kim a place to easily access what she uses every day. The wall baskets were key for Kim, who is a special education teacher and often visits students in other classrooms. With the baskets, Kim can keep her students’ work organized and neat no matter where she goes. Rolling Lesson Cart “I love the cart, because if I need something I can just roll it over!” said Kim. Store what you need all the time on the cart and move it from student to student. Use zip lock bags with labels inside to organize smaller items like flashcards or calendar items—then use your clips and rings to attach to the cart.
Step 2: PURGE
Bag It Up Once Kim could actually see what she had it was time to take out the garbage bags and throw things out. After getting rid of a lot of worksheets, some dated 2012, Kim could finally see what she had left and what needed to find a new home. 8
Maine Educator • October 2015
Use a binder ring attached to a binder clip to easily hang storage bags or papers. Open the binder clip and attach it to a cart.
