How I am doing 2 Rooms-How it can help you get organized too!

I am teaching 2 grades this coming year, 4K and the afternoon portion of a full-day kindergarten program.  Needless to say, with 2 rooms, 2 sets of curriculum, 2 sets of standards, and 2 sets of kids I will NEED to be organized.

4k-All Subjects

K-Math, Science, Social Studies, Art

Materials/Copies:  

I will be based out of my 4k Room (last year's room).  I will have two of these carts, one for each room.  The purple one is the 4k drawer and it will sit stationary in the room.  The green cart is on wheels.  I will organized and plan in my 4k room and push my 5K cart with me into that room with my materials.

Assessment:

I will use my assessment binder that I have refined over the past year for my 4k curriculum.  I will observe them or in the formal assessment at the end of each quarter.
make a tab for each student and continue to check off the assessments as I

5K assessment will consist of an assessment binder with a tab for each student.  In this binder there will be my Common Core checklist as well as the Next Generation Science Standards.  (available k-5) as well as other standards checklist that I will check off as I go.

Schedule/Themes:  

I will set up my weekly (or couple week) themes as usual for 4K.  The Literacy teacher has three week book themes that she tends to follow and then I can mix my 4k.  I use my google calendar to create events and then Color code according to grade it is for.  I embed this on our class blog/website.

click on the image to go to the site.

In the 4k room, I have the thematic bins and book boxes in my closet:

In the 5k room, I have the thematic Binders split into seasons:

I hope that these systems put in place at this point (before school starts) will help me run efficiently, and I hope that it helps you get organized and get going as well!  Good Luck!

Apple a Day-Classroom Organization

I am linking up with The Applicious Teacher, and showing off my classroom organization.  I am pretty proud of my room and feel it is pretty accessible and organized.



I have a page dedicated to my classroom.  Click here to visit.




I have Labeled my whole room for the students and for myself.

My art supply closet is all of the supplies students bring in and a few supplies I use regularly.  In this photo, they are labeled with a run of the mill label maker.  Since this photo,  have gotten into my classroom (we have summer access, YAY!) and made some ADORABLE chevron labels for everything to help it match.  I have also organized it more. I didn't take a picture the day I did it because there was no air, I'd been there a while, and they have begun waxing the floor.  I will post updated photos when the waxing is done and I am not using my closet to store all the things to get them off the floor.

These are all of my thematic books I use for read alouds and putting on my seasonal shelf in my classroom library.  Each one is labeled with the theme and they are in chronological order in which I teach them.  The top boxes are huge poster board boxes that hold posters and decorations for each of the seasons.

I label these drawers for all of MY materials.  The chevron drawers are for each of the days of that weeks materials  These drawers are deep enough to put paint bottles, copies, and other supplies.  The drawers on the right are for the many forms that come in as well as my "to do" drawers.

I have a birthday/calendar binder.  The numbers correspond with the month.  In each number I have 2 page protectors.  The first page protector holds all the birthday cards and badges pre-made.  That way, during that month I pull them out and give to the student and they are ready to go!  The second page protector holds the month label that goes on the calendar and then the calendar numbers for that month. It makes a new month in the classroom very organized!

My students (at age 4/5) are notorious for not quite knowing how to line up, fighting over who was there first, budding, and fighting in line.  My solution was to put all the classroom jobs on the floor with contact paper (all students have a job in my room according to Conscious Discipline) and they stand on their job in line.  No discussion of where, doesn't matter who was there first, etc.  I love it.

Class materials are all labeled with an image and a word label.  This way students can put toys away on their own as well as build literacy and work on reading these words.

Getting Acquainted-My Classroom

Click on the image above to link up!

I am linking up with Latoya: Flying into first grade!  This week: Favorite places in your room!

To see my whole room, go to My Classroom!  I have my room broken down to how I set it up and why.  Even have a picture of every center in the room.

My favorite three places in my room are:

1. My shelf I made for my room.  It is my small group area and it is cute.  It will even hold my technology eventually.  

2. My weekly drawers are essential to my life, and they are cute with my new chevron theme!  I love being organized and I love feeling like I am or putting on the illusion that I am, even if sometimes I am flying by the seat of my pants. ;)

3. My birthday train!  It is so cute and I spent so much time on it!  It is not really to my theme, but it was so cute I had to have it!

Clutter Free Classroom #8

If you are just joining or want to see what the "Clutter Free Classroom Project 2013 is all about, click on the image above.

Challenge #8: Organize your group area.

Being a play based classroom, there is not a lot of work that needs to be done at a desk.

That being said, I do have a circle time area in which I do much of my instruction.

The carpet is front of this chair. I sit in the
chair while doing circle times.  I have the
read aloud books in the file cabinet on
the right.  I use the white board to
write and show students how to write.

I sit in my chair while doing
circle time.  I have my posters
that help students be ready:
"Are you ready"
with the photos and words of center
time expectations. 

My calendar time is also my circle time
and my work area.  I keep the supplies for
calendar in those "bubbles" I got from Walgreens
(see post)

As for where I do my small group work when I pull the students out for play, I have been thinking about it, and begging my husband to take my shopping for what I would love to do.  I want to have a shelf close to my area with the supplies we use daily (scissors, crayons, colored pencils, etc) with in reach rather than always having to get them out of the art closet.

I also plan on getting a projector in my room soon and would need a shelf that would be the proper height and in width to hold the projector and the computer.  I thought this shelf I had in mind would do both jobs since where I do small group is right in front of the white board.....

I have been thinking about this, planning, and figuring since I saw the post last week.

That being said, I went shopping and found the shelf of my dreams at a price far from ideal.  I was going to splurge, but I gave up using my credit card for lent and did not have the money in my bank account today.  So, I call my mom semi-venting about the situation.  My mom says to me, "Why don't you just make one with all that wood you have in the garage?"  The wood she got for free when Walgreens re-did their back storage room and was throwing it out so she took it and put it in our garage......ANYWAY, that is what we decided to do.

We went into Menards bought screws, foam brushes, and "L" brackets.  We set to work:

My loving husband helping out, but not loving this.  If you can see, there are INCHES of snow on the ground.  It snowed 3 inches last night.....the 15th/16th of March and we have inches of snow!  So sick of winter! but I digress....

We drew out plans, measured, cut, hammered, nailed, screwed, and glued.  We then brought it inside.  It leans.  I am not sure why, we have nails, screws, and glue holding it together, but it still wobbles.  This means, it needs a back.  I am on a search of light weight wood to put on the back.

Tomorrow comes paint. I am just going to do a simple white I already have lying around the house.

***Update: 4/3/13***
The shelf is officially painted white and in my room!  Love it!

Found some shelves
at Shopko on Clearance!
Made the shelf from press
board.

This is my  small group time work area.  I have the
students sit at table 1 (left) and I sit on the end
at the bottom of this photo. all the supplies I need are
now here, and the papers I use for the day are stored
 on top rather than sporadically around the
room because I had no surface area. I used this today
and it ran SO efficiently!  I love it!

Clutter Free Classroom #7

 If you have not started yet, please check out the Clutter Free Classroom Blog (by clicking image above).  

This weeks job: Manage incoming paperwork. 

As she mentions in her blog: The paperwork just. keeps. coming.

I communicate with parents via email, my website, and my blog.  When parents do write notes, they write them in the student's folders.  As a school supply, we have parents bring folders with the metal tabs in the middle. We then whole punch some paper and put it in between.  This way, we can keep a running journal, parents always have the paper, and they can check back daily.

When I go to staff meetings for the school district, I bring my teacher binder with me.  In it, I have a three whole punch. I punch the information I need and put it in the correct tab.  I recycle what I dont need right away.

Weekly newsletters to parents and to staff comes to us via email.  I do not print unless I have to, and if I have to I immediately punch it and put it in the binder.

When I have extras that can be saved for next year, I put it in it's theme folder in my file cabinet.  I only have one drawer of this.  It is not an abundant area, but when I spend time cutting and laminating, I save it for next year in this drawer.  I keep as much digital as I can.  I have MANY files digital sorted in the same manner as these for next year printables.

I have the stacking drawers that have a shelf for scholastic (a big paper source), my sub binder, an extra's pile for those early finishers, and a file shelf (for if I dont have time to put the items in their files in the cabinet. 

When students finish their work, the put it in "the high five basket"  The high five basket is a paper catcher I got from the dollar spot at target that has hand prints on it.  Somehow, it got a name as high five basket and it stuck.

If they need do do more work on the item, the put it in the blue basket.

Anyway, I take the work from the basket and put it where it goes next: Alphabet books, home, or grade.  If it needs to be hung on the wall, I post-it note the pile and put it in the aide's baseket.

If RSVPs come for our many school sponsored events, these go in the RSVP drawer to tally later.  They are recycled after the event has finished.

If I need to make copies, it goes in the copy drawer. The drawers are removable, so I can take the whole drawer with me when I go to make my copies.

Clutter Free 2013 (week 7 Catch up)

This weeks job was to catch up!  It was nice to feel on top of things for once rather than like I was trying to keep up with the projects.  

I spent the "catch up week" labeling my recycled "bubbles" I use to organize a variety of materials.  See Post.  My shelves look less cluttered and this eliminates the problem with having containers match and being the right color.  They are clear so students can see what is inside and they fit well on the shelves. I chose labels that fit what is in the bins, but when they change seasonally, students still know what to put in there.

I got my scrapbook wall art board done!  I made a checkerboard pattern of the scrapbook paper, with each child's name on the top left and bottom right corners of the paper.  I put two students to a square because I have so many students, but when picking which students to put together I put students I typically get art from and students I don't typically get art from together.  Students give me work and they can choose if the work they like is one they want to replace the one on the board or not. If they replace it, the old one goes into my "love book" (a binder with page protectors to put students work in--another great idea from Clutter Free Classroom).  If they like their old one better, I put the new one in the love book.  It is filling up quick and looks great, but keeps them organized and helps them make choices as well.

I am so excited my Thirty-One bag came in!  I ordered the organizational tote and the file holder. The file folder holds the hanging folders and the file holder fits right in the bag!  It has made a great bag for conferences with my assessment binder in there and all student files with me. It looks much more attractive sitting next to me at conference time than a stack of files.  I can pull the file holder out for storage and continue to use the bag.  I love having the flat bottom on the bag!

I had conferences this week and then we had a snow day on Friday which was a no school day but a conference day. Now I have to make up conferences on my own time, but I digress.  I came up with a very cool system for my conferences.  I stand a non-lined note card up so it is taller than wide.  I whole punch the card with 2 holes on the left hand side. The student's name goes on top, meeting date and time on the bottom.  I put them in my assessment binder in chronological order, and then I put a post it note on the card that NEXT.  The post it note covers up the data for the next student so when I give the conference there is no privacy problems.  It also marks where I am so I can pull the tab when referring back to the card.  The cards have a bullet point for strength, weakness, strength.  I put any notes at the bottom.  I found the system to be very successful, efficient, and quick.  If you need a better explanation, please let me know!  I love being able to help and share ideas that work (and don't).

I have been making sure to leave my desk clean at night and do a clean sweep of surfaces at night when I can.  I love having someone tell me ideas that help make me an organized, more efficient teacher.  If you haven't started, now is the time!  Make your Classroom Clutter Free in 2013!

Recycled Items

Almost every day, puts up ideas of how to organized one's room.  She often shows ways to recycle items to use in your classroom.   If you don't read her blog, you should!  Soo many great ideas and ways to help you feel more organized (and at least for me, feel more competent in the classroom).

My mother works at Walgreens in the front end.  Their products come in those plastic "bubbles" for small items in such as lighters, highlighters, chapstick, etc.  Most come with tops too.  Well, it turns out, they just throw them away when they are empty!  My mom had to idea to save them for my room and they are AWESOME!  I use them in my art center, puzzles and games center, and my personal organization.

My mission this summer is to remove all the labels that come on them, and then label them, but they are working sufficiently for now!

holding teacher supplies

Holding class games (created and laminated from many of the free printables and  preschool packs I find)

Holding art supplies

They have many, many of these at back to school time because that is what they keep the small highlighters, and such in.  Ask for them or ask them to save them!  You will not be disappointed!

Organize your Class Library!

I was doing my usual weekend "professional development" reading Pinterest and Blogs.  I found this pin and in turn, blog post.

Classroom Library Organization Blog post
Actual iTunes link

I downloaded, and I have gone CRAZY scanning all the books I keep at home.  I put their "collection name" as Gloudemans' Home.  I can then make a different collection for where the books are stored to better keep track of where the books are and where to find them.  It is also a nice digital list.

Yay more organization!

Clutter Free Room #6

 Challenge #6 "Organize your Teacher Resources"

This week is to organize the materials, specifically the teacher guides and school purchased curriculum. In cleaning up my work space If found that I did this pretty well.  

My material is not "really" in kids sight as I have all the material that is not kid friendly either out of site or behind my desk.  This is basically my under the stairs storage and/or binders.  

My textbooks live under my stairs, bottom shelf, and all in the left hand basket.
School purchased ones on the right, self purchased ones in the same crate on the left.

Craft ideas and such are also in these books, on this bottom shelf. They are on the right hand side of the basket as well.  

The mimio's box and user guides are all together on the bottom shelf right hand side of the right hand basket.  If  I need the mimio or the directions for it, I simply look there.

On the top shelf, right hand crate, I have my binders.  White (extra for now), Blue is for bulletin boards.  This binder includes pictures of boards, materials used, and even font/cricut letters used and size.  Purple binder (not pictured, already in my bag to go home tonight) is my assessment binder.  Yellow (extra for now).  The pink binder is my birthdays and calendar binder.

Purple assessment binder.   In this binder I keep all my checklist observational assessment forms.  Each student has one and they are in alphabetical order.  I used tabs made form post it notes for each child's name.  Observational Assessment form, available TpT.  I also keep a simple checklist to make sure I get to everyone.  In the back, I keep my abc reading chart, colors chart, etc.  That I need to show students in a formal assessment.

Pink calendar/birthday binder.  This binder is 12 binder tabs and 12 page protectors.  At the beginning of the year, I make out all my birthday cards/badges, and put them in the correct tab in it's page protector.  The front page is a list of birthdays.  If they are summer birthdays, it indicates what month the child's birthday is celebrated and materials held.

 I also put the calendar numbers and month title in the page protector. Each month, I am ready for the birthdays and calendars.

My Teacher Binder is in my bag at all times.  It contains student info, standards, calendars, meeting info, etc.

My Substitute Teacher Binder is on the shelves to the right of the chair on the shelves.  This contains emergency procedures, lesson plans, transportation information, and procedure lists.

My file cabinet is where I keep all of my thematic information.  Each season/month has a hanging folder.  Each theme has a manilla folder. I put originals, extras, and games such as bingo in these folders.

Each letter of the week has it's own folder as well.  The folders contain: My printable alphabet book pages for that letter, the  handwriting sheet for this letter, and the cricut cut letters to hang on the board.

Any other professional development, curriculum, and data the school gives me, I put in the file cabinet  in a labeled folder.  The folders are in the hanging folders according to category.

For my weekly organization, I have drawers.  I love my plastic drawers.  I have weekly materials.  These drawers are behind my desk and students do not go into them.  The labels on the front keep me organized and hide the clutter behind.  The black drawers are shorter and work great for when you have less of certain materials (like RSVPs, an assignment to grade, etc).

Finally, for thematic materials (everything from thematic books for the book shelves, thematic games/centers, and decorations) are kept out of student's eyes as well.  I have a closet that is organized by these themes in basic chronological order.  I have book boxes laid backwards with their label on the "bottom."   I then put a small, covered, plastic shoe box with the materials in them under the books.  For decorations, I have very large poster boxes (so posters don't need to be folded) on top of these shelves in my closet.