Don’t Agonize. Organize

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

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.

Step 2: PURGE Step 3: ARRANGE & DESIGN

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.

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.

Bag It Up

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.

Organize.

The “Turn In” Bin

Use a simple wire basket to create a “Turn In” bin. Write the name of each student on a clothes pin and when students place their work in the basket ask them to turn their clothes pin over. Now, you can easily see who is still working and may need a little extra help.

Untangle Your Tech

Use a dish drying rack to store your classroom iPads. Weave the wires through the rack and plug in—this separates the tablets and neatly sorts the wires.

The Paper Place

Create labels for topics you frequently teach and place the worksheets you plan to use for the week in each drawer. This will help you organize your work for the week. You can also use a drawer for each day or a drawer for papers

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Individual Student Baskets

Buy a basket for each student (found for $1 each) and use a paper clip to attach a printed name label to each one. Hang the baskets with removable hooks at the students’ height. This organizes each student’s work when you don’t have desks. Have desks? Use the baskets to store books students like to read during quiet time.

Maximize the wall space under your board to hang the baskets (below).