Learning how to create systems is the key to these classroom organization tips - perfect for back to school. Read on to find out how to get started.
Create a Filing System
For me, the biggest problem in my classroom (and my home) is all the paper clutter! If I don’t deal with it or have a system in place, then it can get out of control very quickly.
Within my classroom I set up an incoming and an outgoing system for all the paper. By this I mean I need to know what to do with the papers that come into my room and the paper I might need to take out of my room.
Incoming paper might include:
Copies I make
Student homework (after completion)
Forms from the office
Library past due notices
Outgoing paper might include:
Forms for the office
Student absentee notes
Student homework (before completion)
Graded work
Depending on whether the papers are inbound or outbound determines how I file it. If I look at it briefly and then return it (or recycle it), then it might go into a basket on my desk. If I need to hold onto it for a period of time then it goes into a hanging file organizer on my wall behind my desk.
Copies are sorted by subject and day they will be used and placed in a hanging file organizer on top of my desk. In the past I have also tried file boxes labeled by subject. Whatever you use, it’s important to have a system that will work for you.
Student Supplies
The next tip I would recommend tackling for classroom organization is the student supplies. Knowing how students will be handling supplies is a big part of my teaching day.
Often I change my system for student supplies each year to find what will work best. Not every class is the same but also I might learn a new tip from a teaching group on Facebook that has me wanting to try something else.
This summer I’ve seen a lot of posts about pencil storage. Personally I have not tried the pencil wars challenge but I’ve heard many success stories over the years.
Here are my thoughts:
The upside of this challenge is that students keep track of their x amount of pencils each week. This weekly amount should be plenty to keep from needing new pencils or sharpening pencils during the week.
The downside of the challenge is the cost and time to create individual student containers of pencils, checking and sharpening pencils every week. Mrs. Hazelton has a great free resource you can get from TpT called Winning the Pencil War.
When planning out my student supplies system for the new school year, I need to first decide if I will have group or individual supplies. Sometimes I will have a mix of both. For example, my past reading program had components that I kept and passed out as needed. Students didn’t need to keep and access these supplies daily.
This year I will be switching back to group supplies but will keep my individual student mailboxes to pass back graded papers and allow a place for their classmates to pass notes to them through our letter writing center.
Teacher Supplies
Once I figure out what to do with all my paper and I know how my students will store and access their supplies, it’s time to think about me. What type of system do I need for my teacher supplies?
Teacher supplies can be anything I need to teach a lesson and be comfortable in my work space. This could mean carrying snacks and personal products in my teacher's desk for a “just in case” moment. It might also mean having my favorite grading pens on hand or my favorite planner.
Last, I’ll look at my small group instruction. For myself, this can take me awhile to figure out and I feel like it is ever evolving as I learn and progress in my teaching career.
I love using a plastic 3-drawer cart to house my small group supplies. I have 2 for reading and writing items and a third one for math. Within the drawers I have further organized my items.
The top drawer of my reading cart contains pouches for each reading group. Inside the pouches I keep notes and copies the groups will be needing when we meet. Because my school doesn’t have a small group library, I prefer to use photocopied passages for my reading groups.
The next drawer holds any fun supplies I might need for my reading groups. This ranges from finger lights, pointers, timers, word tracking bookmarks, and spinners.
The bottom drawer often contains miscellaneous items I don’t often need but am not sure where else I should put them. It’s sort of the junk drawer of my classroom.
The second reading cart drawers hold my word study group materials, including my binder for tracking student progress through the individualized sight word system.
Much with the same system as my first cart I have the top drawer for student group materials and the second drawer for tools or supplies they might need. The bottom drawer contains resources I may pull from for copies throughout the year that are not digitalized.
This system is repeated for my math cart.
Having a set system for small group materials makes knowing where to put and find everything easy as the year progresses. I know for me as the year starts and things get busy I find it so simple to just dump materials where I see a spot if I don’t have a good working system in place.
Digital Work
My last of the classroom organization tips for today is to have a system for your digital work. This can include how you store your computer files and manage your emails.
I know on my personal computer I can sometimes lose many minutes searching for a file. I’ll have forgotten what I named it or what folder I saved it under. Then I get sidetracked and find other files I find interesting as I’m looking for my lost file.
There goes an afternoon!
When it comes to teaching, there is so much on our plate already. Keeping organized can help take back some of our time.
At the beginning of each school year I will spend time creating new digital folders and email systems. This coming school year I will be starting a new position and it’s important to stay organized. I will create several folders on my computer drive in anticipation of my workflow. For example, last year I made folders for my lesson plans, back to school, report card comments, and assessments.
For my email, I created folders for IEP meetings, my administration, and my grade level. I could also set up my email to automatically go into these folders if I wanted.
Related Post: How to Organize Your Email
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