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 was so glad to see these ideas about putting same subject matter together into themes. I’ve been teaching over 23 years and it’s always a lost summer, so I can get ready for the upcoming school year, hopefully, this year with all the organizing I’m doing it will give some “free time” not only in the next summer, but also during the school year!
I have this great book but for the upper grades and I use it’s tips each year and share with my team mates. Thanks for all these tips!!
I organize my school materials into monthly units. Each unit has at least four themes/activities which are placed into large zip loc bags and then a large plastic bin. Additionally, I make copies of The Mailbox unit that supports the theme and place it into the unit along with any books, crafts or activities. Any NEW Mailbox activities can easily be copied and placed into the monthly bin, according to theme. It’s nice to have choices.
Great ideas! I find using cardboard boxes perfect for storing all my materials for each theme. I do group them by month. Inside each box are about four themes, which I keep together in large Ziploc bags. I also like to include any flannel board stories, craft projects, core books and reproducibles that align with that theme. It’s perfect for any new teacher that joins my grade level. I can give them a theme bag and they can pick & choose what they want to include in their lessons.
I can use any organizing ideas I get! I use big 3-ring binders for each unit or month, and put all of my printed ideas, reproducibles, etc. in plastic sleeves and store them in the binders. It took a lot of palstic sheet protectors at first, but it has been worth it. The pages all stay nice and neat and my ideas are easy to find. Now I just need to tpye a Table of contents for each one!:)
When I find reproducibles, worksheets, or handouts I scan them onto a data key. I name the handouts and put them in subject/theme appropriate folders. I put the key into my computer which is connected to a LCD projector. Then Iproject them on my whiteboard, which I use much like a smartboard. This saves paper. If I choose to make copies of the reproducibles, I put the data key into our copier and make copies.
I too am an idea collector and have spent the summer trying to get things together. I will definitely use some of the ideas here, especially copying the table of contents pages of all my Mailbox books. I have my many files spread around my living room so my family appreciates any organization tips as well. It is hard to resist gathering more ideas with so much great stuff on the internet.
I like the electronic device ideas the best. Teaching special ed, I try to put all my repos in elect. format, and then save them by grade level and brief description–example—2nd grade plant life cycle worksheet becomes plant_life_cycle_2. This takes more time initilly, but once they are on the jump drive, they are easily found by a sub or cooperating teacher. This also helps my remember and scan quickly for lessons/iep goal supports.
Thanks for the great ideas.
There are so many good ones.
The lady I taught with would put art craft ideas and any left over supplies in a large ziploc bag. We would alphabetize and store in the bottom file cabinet. IT WORKED OUT GREAT
Thanks for the great ideas! I love the data base. I keep all my themes in binders too and now I have so many I have decided to group the themes I do by month. Therefore I will only have 10 binders Sept.-June and I can choose from a variety of themes each year.
Mary- as for the childrens books, I like to use the magazine holders (cardboard) and label them by month or theme. This way I can find a book fairly quickly and they look much neater on the shelf when you are not using them! I use the label maker to label each magazine holder and pull each holder as I am doing that theme and leave it on the table by my rocking chair.
I am changing both schools and grade levels this school year, so now is the perfect time to try these organizational tips. I have always said that I will do it “next year”. Now, 14 “next years” later, I am finally going to get this done. Thanks for the tips!
As a new teacher, I appreciate all of the organization tips. I have tried really hard to not start collecting a lot of loose papers because I know that they would accumulate way too fast. Instead, I save everything I use in electronic folders on the computer and then burn a CD for each unit that I teach. I use rewritable CD’s so that I can modify, add, and change things as needed. For any loose papers that I have, I store them in 3-ring binders organized by theme.