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Not sure how to stay organized this school year? Don’t know how you will make space for everything? Fear not. We’ve collected some of the best design tips for your workspace and tricks to help make your job a little easier. So whether you’re a maintenance worker looking for a place to put your hammer and nails or high school teacher trying to figure out how to best store your students’ iPads, we have the answers for you. We even threw in a few other creative ideas! Share classroom & design tips:
Classroom Tricks Keep Hands Clean -
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iPad Storage Station - Use
a dish drying rack to individually hold your class iPads. Plug each iPad in and use wire ties to keep control of the cords or run them along the side in between the spaces of the rack. Connect each plug to a power strip which is zip tied to the drying rack. This keeps iPads in order and charges them at the same time.
Use a rubberband or hair tie to control the amount of hand sanitizer that comes out of the bottle. Connect the band to the neck of the pump—the pump will only go down as far as the band will allow.
Revive Dried Out Markers - When markers have dried out, pour 1/2 inch of nail polish remover into a paper cup and let the marker tips soak in the solution for 30 seconds. Let them dry for five minutes before using. The acetone in the remover restores moisture without diluting the color and draws ink down to the tip of the markers.
Electrical Tape - Use it to section
off space on your white board. You can create spaces for things like homework, agenda, the date, SAT word of the day. The possibilities are endless.
Be Clutter Free—On the Cheap Don’t say you’re cheap—say you upcycle. What’s upcycle? It’s when you take something you might normally recycle and transform it into something new. One of the best things about upcycling—it doesn’t cost much to create what you need out of things you already have. Here are a couple of great items to upcycle:
Member Design Tip I am a travelling teacher with a cart. I went to a discount store and bought a car console organizer—the thing you would put in between your seats. I use it on top of my cart to hold pens, pencils and other supplies. It even holds my coffee—that’s important! - Sammie Garnett, Lewiston EA 6
Maine Educator • September 2014
Desk Fabric - Don’t want a
black metal desk? Stretch fabric over the front to give it a fresh look.
Tin cans - clean them out, spray paint them, hot glue together, wrap with a ribbon, and add a rope handle for an organizer. Use tuna cans and place them in your desk drawer to organize small items like paper clips and push pins.
Baby wipe containers you can easily turn these containers into storage for crayons, markers, paint etc. Use smaller wipe containers (the travel size ones) for things like pens and pencils.
