Are you looking around your classroom and wondering how to tackle the clutter? These 5 tips will get you started organizing a classroom and managing the clutter! Teaching is incredibly rewarding, but it also comes with its share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges new teachers face is developing and implementing an effective classroom management plan. Try implementing these seven tips to organize your classroom and make things easier on yourself!
1) Create Designated Areas for Classroom Supplies
Half of the battle is deciding what materials you will need easy access to and which can be stored away. I thought about the tools my students would use weekly in my classroom. We have scissors, glue sticks, crayons, and math manipulatives that we use regularly. Almost everything else was tucked away and could be pulled out as needed.
2) Organizing Teaching Materials
As teachers, we have so many instructional materials, and organizing them can be a full-time job itself! You want to make it easy for yourself and other people who come into your classroom each day. The best way to keep things organized is by keeping like items together. Choose a cabinet, drawer, or corner of your classroom that will contain all of your supplies and designate them there. You can see how I store my weekly materials with these handy hanging file folders above! Just make sure you have enough space for everything without overcrowding or wasting space.
3) Choosing storage options for organizing a classroom
Once you have determined your most-used instructional materials and supplies, choose storage solutions that will ensure your materials are readily accessible. I love these storage drawers, and they fit perfectly under my counter!
Try using clear containers to hold everyday classroom items, and you’ll never have to dig around in a cluttered drawer again. For example, use plastic snack-size bags (they’re durable and they come in different sizes) for colored pencils, markers, highlighters, and crayons. The next time you need colored pencils for a drawing or coloring sheet, grab one from your container—no hunting required!
4) Organizing a classroom? Have a system for papers!
If your classroom is anything like mine, you’ll have lots of student work waiting for you to look them over before being sent home. At one point in my career, I had piles of papers on my table at the end of the day. Setting up a system for tracking loose papers can help eliminate piles of papers, and you’ll know where to look when you are ready to tackle that “to be graded” pile.
5) Using Labels to Organize a Classroom
Once you have organized your classroom, you should have systems in place that will make it easy for your students to find and put away things in your classroom. You can even label each container so that students know exactly where to find what they need and, even better, where to put them away! By creating a designated spot for each of the supplies, students always know where they belong. From there, it’s simply a matter of maintaining order. If you’re crafty, making labels is a fun way to personalize and beautify your classroom. Students can even get involved in creating these labels! It takes seconds and will help them become independent in putting things back where they belong.
Please drop a comment below and tell me which of these tips you think will be the most helpful!
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