Classroom - Organizing Supplies

Good Morning!

Today I’m going to let you in on my battle of organizing supplies.  I don’t know about you all, but between Lucy and I, I think we’ve tried every way possible to organize our student’s supplies. Before I flipped my classroom, my students had their own supplies in their own desks.  They had a pencil box for pencils, scissors, and erasers and a ziploc storage bag for the rest of their art supplies.  I could not swallow the idea of having community supplies so I had to figure out how to keep them individualized for now.

In the process of flipping the room, I put their folders and notebooks and in a numbered book box much like these that you can find on Really Good Stuff.  Their pencil box and art supply bag, Lucy and I put on the top shelf of their locker.  The idea was that students would simply bring their supplies in with them in the morning and put them on their chosen desk.  This all worked fine for the remainder of the year, but I knew this had to change.  The ziploc bags would rip open and it was  a lot of clutter in their work space.  

When the year finished, my current teaching partner knew she was going to flip her classroom as well for the following year.  We decided to sit down and figure out how exactly we wanted to organize things, and what we needed in order to do it.  With the plan we came up with we probably should have bought stock in Sterilite, because boy did we order A LOT!

First, I gave into community supplies.  It was a big hurdle for me to jump over, but truly is the easiest and most clutter-free way to go.  With that being said, we “modernized” it a bit.  We ordered a bunch of Sterilite Small 5 Drawer Units from Wal-mart for their supplies.  This way we could use visual labels for students that needed them, and the supplies were stored and enclosed so they’d stay  cleaner and less abused.  We also purchased a few extra for students we knew we’d get that tend to put things in their mouth. This way they would have their own that looked like everyone else’s, but wouldn’t spread the germs.

I must say, I really enjoy this way of organizing.  I also stalked Michaels for weeks waiting for this huge 8-drawer storage to go on sale.  We call this the “extras bin”.  If a student needs a new red marker because the one in their drawer is dead, they simply throw it away and get one from the extras bin to add to their supplies.  It’s nice to not have to worry about the up keep, the students do.

As for their folders and notebooks, we purchased Sterilite Wide 3 Drawer Units, again from Wal-mart. We numbered the drawers so students would know which was theirs, and it holds everything they need.  Binders fit with it all, but was a tight squeeze, so we simply stacked them next to the drawers.  

The students’ book boxes were also from Wal-mart.  We purchased Sterilite 3-Drawer Desktop Units.  Students just pull out their entire drawer when it comes time to use them.  My students choose 5-6 books at a time, along with whatever I’ve given them from mini lessons and they all fit surprisingly well.  For the large books that do not fit, students know to simply set it on top of their drawer unit.  

I’m really happy with the ease of the organization so far this year and it was worth the effort and money to just get what we needed to best accommodate our students and space.

Next week we will jump into how we introduce the students to this new style of seating and classroom management.  Have a wonderful week!