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
ITS A PLEASURE HAVING BEEN TIPPED ON MANAGEMENT .
I NORMALLY GET PROBLEMS WITH THAT. I LIKE YOUR TIP.
Thanks so much! I so appreciate the tips on organizing all of the many resources I have collected in only one year!
WOW! Like many others, I really like the data-base organization tip. I, too, go looking for that very thing I know will be great for the next day’s work but who knows where I put it or what I filed it under. This will really help me with all aspects of writing lesson plans and having fun learning activities as close as my computer!
New teacher so all your ideas are great. Love the idea about copy index pages. Have alot of resource books and after reading this I think I will color code them by subject or theme. Thanks!
These are great ideas!!!! I actually used “Favorite Reproducibles” and “Database Organizer” together. I made one 3″ binder for each of our grading periods (we have 6)which I then divided into subjects. For each subject I listed the state objectives that I was required to teach. I folllowed that with a “database” of resources, file foldergames and ideas. Behind each database I placed a copy of my favorite blackline masters. I now have the grading period at my fingertips. It has made life so much easier especially when it is time for team planning and writing lesson plans.
I love the database idea…so many times I have seen something that “I’ll use this later”. Then, when later comes….I can’t remember what or where it was I found the idea. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you for all of the great ideas. I am such a pack rat and I am always looking for ways to be more organized. Nothing ruins a day of instruction faster than not being able to find what you are looking for.
Thanks for all of these terrific ideas. Makes me want to get back into my classroom and start organizing…and reorganizing!
I have two great organization ideas. For those of you that use seasonal “window clings” (the plastic pictures and images you can stick on a window to decorate), neatly store and organize them by sliding them into a plastic, three-hole punched sheet protector, and store them all in order by month in a three-ring binder. They stay flat until you need them again, and you’ll never have to worry about them clumping up on you. Tip: it helps if you slide a sheet of printer paper in first, then slide the clings on top of the paper so they don’t stick to the sheet protector itself.
Also, to store di-cut letters, use one of those 26-sectioned accordion file folders. Designate one section for each letter of the alphabet. When you’re ready to put up a bulletin board or display, you can easily select letters from each section as opposed to wasting time sorting through a whole stack of scrambled up letters to create your display name! It’s also a good way to protect the letters since some of them can be expensive.
Hope you can use these ideas, and happy organizing!
Many, many thanks to the contributors of The Mailbox magazines and books. I just finished my first year as a Headstart teacher and I couldn’t have made it through the year without all your help! We currently use that same labeling system for the toys on our shelves but it’s a great idea for the items in the closet that you have to constantly sift through and hope you find…THANKS again!!!!
Thanks for the idea of making a database! I’ve always torn my magazines out and filed them in to folders that are organized by subject and topic, but a database would be easier to access and locate the info, not to mention it would save space. I think I’ll start trying that.
I was so thrilled to see a suggestion for a huge
collection of materials and to discover I’m not the
only packrat who can’t resist new materials. I love the colored dots idea. I already mark my AR books with a yellow dot…helpful to my kids. I, also, organize with 3 ring binders for each subject. Any new ideas are placed in a separate binder until I can decide where it would fit best. At school, I use one 4 drawer file cabinet for Reading. A folder is used for each story and any materials used for that story. Everything I need is in one place and I don’t have to reinvent the wheel each year.
Organization is always a weak point for me both at school and home. At school, my main area of weakness is all the paper work we get and what to keep, what to toss, and what to save for later.
Thanks for the tips!