Student Organization in the Classroom
I get asked often how I keep my student’s desks clean and organized. No, I am not going through each of their desks every single afternoon and tidying them up (even though sometimes I really want to).
Student organization is a routine that I teach my students at the beginning of the year. I want them to see the importance of having a clean and organized work space. I spend a lot of my own time cleaning up our classroom because it helps me stay happy and helps with lesson planning and instruction. Modeling classroom organization is key to having your students have clean desks without you doing it for them.
I have tried reward systems where I recognize students with clean desks, but I quickly learned it was the same kids over and over who already had the skill of organization mastered because of what they learned from home or a previous organized teacher. Instead I want to help those that maybe don’t have the set skills to be organized, become organized!
In this blog post I want to share a few tips as I partner with Lakeshore Learning to share classroom organization tools that will help with student organization this upcoming year.
Every single supply in your classroom has a place. You need to determine where that place is for everything. Where do pencils go? Where will the kids find extra lined paper? In their desks they should also have a place for everything. Teach this at the beginning of the year. Show what the inside of their desk should look like. I always have them stack their books, notebooks, folders and whiteboards on the right side of the desk. I also model how to correctly put papers inside folders, so they don’t have edges sticking out that lead to bent, folded or ripped pages (you know exactly what I am talking about).
I did something this year that changed my classroom organization in a HUGE way. I got rid of student pencil boxes. No more of big bulky boxes that the kids bring in that get filled with random 7-year-old kid clutter (chewed up erasers, small toys that shouldn’t be at school, random pieces of paper, etc.). Instead, I decided I was going to give each kid a plastic basket and that was what they were going to put their necessities in. It is small and there isn’t extra space for junk. This basket is the home of 3 pencils, crayons, a dry erase marker, a pink eraser and a small whiteboard eraser. That’s it! I took the scissors, glue, markers, highlighters and extra fluff and put them in team baskets. I use the Neon Store-it-All Rotating Caddies from Lakeshore to organize each team’s supplies. The best part is the team caddies are kept on the side counter and my students only have access to them if we are doing something that requires one of those supplies. It was a life changer teachers! No more kids playing with glue sticks or cutting pieces of paper under their desk without the teacher seeing it.
Another suggestion I have to help with student organization is label EVERYTHING. I use coordinating labels around my classroom like I did on Lakeshore’s Neon Classroom Carry-All Supply Caddy to keep supplies separated and organized. I have label sets that include many different sizes, shapes and are completely editable for each teacher use in their classroom. You can find the different label themes in my TPT store and find the one that is the perfect fit for your classroom.
I label student names on everything. That way if something goes missing, we can easily locate it because it has the student’s name on it. I make one sheet of labels for every student and then use those labels on the supplies. This also is easy to do when you get a new student during the year. You can put a blank label on the crayon box, notebook, book bag, etc and then replace it with a typed label or go ahead and handwrite the student’s name on it.
I have loved the organization tools from Lakeshore Learning that make organizing my classroom a breeze and the colors pop too! I’m obsessed with Lakeshore’s sturdy Neon Sort & Store Book Totes that each of my students use to take books back and forth from school to home. Learn more about Lakeshore by visiting them on their website, Facebook, Insta
If you love organizing and want to start shopping for next year, Visit Lakeshore Learning today and receive 25% off one non-sale item using coupon code 4816 http://bit.ly/2SmWIGp
Classroom organization is one thing that we can control in our classrooms. If you are interested in learning more tips and tricks, then sign-up for my email list today!