Rethinking Organization

I am big into change.  Especially if it doesn't work.  Often times I'll engage my kiddos in the process, but sometimes I just need to shake things up.  In my last post I chatted about kits and organization.  As I was writing them I realized how dissatisfied I am with how somethings are organized.  I have some decent organization going on, but am longing for more.  I love having items at the table, ready for anyone to use in a moment, but I loathe having an extra box/basket taking up table space.  Particularly for agendas / homework folders that we seldom use (except for when notices go home).  I used to store them away from the tables, and think it's time to do that again.  Possibly by the door in a prettied up copy paper box.  We could probably keep the Math / Inquiry Notebooks in the book baggies as well, and would add an additional way for parents to stay informed about what we are learning.  I digress...

As I sit here whining reflecting on my classroom storage I decided to pop over to Walmart and see what might suit my needs, and I found this in black.  I would definitely keep the book baggies from Steps to Literacy because they store pretty easily on the back of the chairs.  And I would still keep the caddies with supplies at the ready.  But a storage drawer like this could definitely come in handy!

 

On Top (off the table!!!)

• caddies with writing & art supplies
• Kleenex
• unit related books ~ I end up creating baskets that the kiddos use during workshop(s) & I could keep them in those plastic book bins that I currently use for the agendas
• OR the snacks, agendas, & home folders

1st Drawer

• iPods
• earbuds
• Nooks
• CD players (if I could scrape together time, I would just transfer the audio books to iTunes and put them on the iPods)

 2nd Drawer

• dry-erase board
• dry-erase markers
• clipboards

 3rd Drawer

• Word Study notebooks
• dictionaries (each kiddo gets their own from the Rotary Club)
• maybe the Math / Inquiry Notebooks
• cursive books

4th Drawer

• snacks
• agendas
• homework folders 
• OR unit books 

Having had something like this in the past, I know how much table space it creates and keeps the kiddos organized.  The only problem is when snacks are kept in the drawer...mushed bananas, fruit flies, exploding juice boxes.  Other than that these work really well!