Desk Clean up!

I have a NOTORIOUS problem for my desk being buried every day when the kids leave.  This makes being productive at the end of the day difficult because I have to unbury it first.  The clutter on the desk is often broken books, toys, and things I had to take away because they were not being used correctly.  

I had a small set of drawers placed by my door.  It was there when we go there and it holds the folder bin the students drop off every morning.  It was nice to have there to hold the folder bin and it was the perfect height for the students, but it was not being used besides that.


That is when I created my new organizational system for the students to take care of the materials for themselves and allow me to get to them when I can and not have to dig out my desk each day.

The top drawer hold the "nap slips"  I have 20 students in my morning class and 11 of them go from my room to the classroom next door for the "aftercare" program that our school offers.  These students nap in the after care program and they have slips that go home with their parents saying, "Yes, I napped today" or "I rested, but did not nap today."  They bring them back to school after their parents view them and put them in this drawer and then I bring them to the teacher to redistribute the next day.

I saw a version of this image posted on pinterest that a mom used with her children.  I made a similar sign, changing the wording a bit: UH OH!  You left it out.  Mrs. Gloudemans and Mrs. Drummond picked it up!  If you want to earn it back you have to do some work before it is yours again.

Since putting this in the room (only 2 days thus far) I have also used it for when a student puts a toy in their mouth and it needs to be sanitized.  (Being in the 4 year old room, this still happens often enough that there is a need for it)

This has eliminated toys from my desk.  It is amazing.  No Toys!

Another Pinterest discovery!  A teacher (I believe of an older classroom) had a book hospital for all the broken books students kept bringing to her saying they were broken.  I, too, had this problem in my room, especially because they are not always using the books correctly yet.  

This, too, has alleviated some of the stress from my desk and allows me time to get to them with out just shuffling them around.

The students are also taking responsibility by putting the books in there themselves as well as telling each other to take care of the book so they don't have to go to the hospital.