Organization Tips
Posted by Hope Spencer on 13 Jul 2009 | Posted in: Organization and Supplies, The Mailbox Books
Ah, sweet summertime! Now you can finally find a bit of time to relax, spend days with your family, tackle household projects, and pursue favorite hobbies. But I know teachers, and I know that your students are always on your mind. I’m sure you’ll be spending some of your precious summer hours planning and organizing for the coming school year. With this in mind, I’ve taken some time this morning to gather some organizational tips from several of my favorite Mailbox® books, the “500 Classroom Tips” series.
| From the Preschool book: Thematic Storage Boxes
Decorate your room and store your teaching materials at the same time. Here’s how! Decorate boxes to reflect the thematic materials they will hold. For example, for a farm-related unit, cover a box and its lid with colorful paper. Then glue on farm animal die-cut shapes. Or, for a transportation unit, cover a box with yellow paper. Add black paper wheels, painted windows, and magazine cutout passengers. You’ll be able to tell at a glance where your materials for each theme are located. Plus it’s a great way to spark youngsters’ curiosity for upcoming units! |
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From the K-1 book: Topics at Your Fingertips
Have you collected so many resource books over the years that you don’t even know where to begin looking through them? Here’s a tip to help organize that colossal collection. Arrange your books according to topics—reading, math, centers, art, etc. Using a different color of sticker dots for each topic, attach a dot to the spine of each book. (For example, all reading books might have blue dots on them.) To be sure that the dots stay on the books, cover them with transparent tape. Then arrange the books according to topic (color dot) on a bookshelf or in a file. If desired, make a legend showing each color and topic for your reference. Then, when you need ideas for specific topics, you’ll know exactly where to look! |
From the Grades 2-3 book: Favorite Reproducibles
If you’re always scrambling to locate your tried-and-true reproducibles, try organizing them with this great tip. You will need a three-ring binder with dividers. Label one for each month of the school year. Three-hole-punch your favorite reproducibles (student activities, parent letters, party notices) and place them in the binder according to the month in which they will be used. Your reproducibles will be right at your fingertips when you need them.
From the Grades 4-6 book: Database Organizer
“Where did I see that neat activity?” If this sounds familiar, eliminate searching through magazines and books for lost ideas by creating your own computer database. Set up your database using fields titled “Publication,” “Issue/Year,” “Subject,” “Article,” and “Page Number(s).” As you look through a magazine or book, write the information needed on a sticky note attached to its front cover. Later, type the information from the note into the appropriate database fields. Whenever you need an idea on a specific topic, such as ecosystems, go to the Find command in the database and type the name of the topic. The database will list the name of each idea you’ve entered, including the book/magazine featuring it and the page number on which it can be found. How simple, organized, and convenient!
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53 Responses to “Organization Tips”
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5] Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5] Show All Comments
I too love the Mailbox magazine. I am going back into the kindergarten world this fall, and I am so excited. The first thing I did was get a subscription to the Mailbox. I took the Aug/Sept. issue apart and put the mailbox companion extras (online)in one notebook. That way I have all the ideas and extra reproducibles in one place.
I also have put all my childrens’ books in plastic washbins and organized them by theme. I labeled the outside of the washbin so that way I can put the books out for the children to read according to the theme of the month.
I loved all the ideas presented. I am a very orgainzed person and so I keep everything in 3 ring binders and in file folders according to month, or books to be used for level reading like Horrible Harry book study, Holes, etc. I find that I can always find what I am looking for if I keep them in two places. I don’t like the student papers to have the 3 ring copy on them it is a pet peeve of mine. I keep all books in their separate tubs and coded for level reading. I try to keep a several copies of the book I am reading to the class handy for those students that need to have something in their hands or need to visually see in order to retain the story. I like to give oral reviews of the book, or a quick draw of what I just read, I also will use parts of the book in jeopardy when we play it. Thank you for all your great ideas.
Those are all great ideas. One thing that I have started this summer is to put my Reading, Math and Writing Workshop pages into binders. I have collected everything from reproducibles to pictures of how to set up my classroom. They are all kept neatly in a binder(one for each subject). Now I know where everything is.
I love to bring a Mailbox ideas book with me to the beach. While I’m soaking in the sun, I flip randomly through a book, taking in new ideas like a sponge. I don’t worry about remembering all of the great ideas I see - I’m just a tourist on such days. I know that the ideas and creative influences of my summer reading will influence me back “in the real world” of the classroom. Then, later the year, I’ll find myself connecting vacation memories with an organizational tool, bulletin board, or activity.
I really like the colored dot idea. Since I teach 6th grade language arts, I’m going to modify it and use the color coding idea for the different topics - poetry, vocabulary, writing, etc. Thanks for the great idea!