Classroom Organization Ideas

Organization in a classroom is always challenging. There are always a million papers, books, supplies, etc., that always seem to get spread around. Here are a few ideas that can help you get organized creating a better, more relaxing space for you and for your students.

Turn in Box
A great idea for a "turn in" basket is a paper organizing shelf. They come in wood, pace board, plastic, and metal. Being in a middle school, I have six classes that need to turn things in, so I have a metal paper sorter with twelve slots, two across and six down. This allows me to have students turn things in on one side, and I pass them back on another. My sorter has removable trays so that I can hand students a tray and easily pass papers out to the class. Some of the other tray options also have pace board or plastic trays that you can use. This system allows me to have everything confined to one area, instead of baskets that are spread out on a table.

Missed Work Zone
In my classroom, I have found a great way to deal with absent assignments. I use weekly dry-erase boards with calendars on them to write what we're doing for the week. Below the white boards, I have a hanging file holder with folders, one for each day of the week. At the end of the day, I take all of my left over worksheets and I place them in the correct day of the week folder. When a student comes back and asks what they missed, I direct them to the absent wall for their class. At the end of the week, I take the handouts, place them in a file folder labeled by week, and put it in a file cabinet marked "Past Worksheets." If a student was gone for longer, or they just lose their assignment, I direct them to the file cabinet to pick it up. I've found that this allows students to be more independent in keeping track of their work and I have less time of filling everyone in.

Student Supply Center
Students are always in need of staples, paper clips, markers, tissues, etc. I've found that if I make a supply center for my students in one place, then they go there first to look for the things they need and spend less time interrupting class or asking me for items. I have a two tiered shelf that I keep next to the "Turn In" box with tissues, tape, staples, paper clips, markers & colored pencils, pencils, a three hole punch and blank paper. This is, of course, dictated by what your supply situation is, but it's nice to have a place where it's all centrally located, so that students will take care of things themselves.

Being organized is part of helping your students feel like they have a comforting place to work and learn. Whatever methods you use, it's always a good idea to give organization a shot. It'll make all of you happier in the end.