Organization is key. It is a teacher’s dream to have every single thing organized in the most efficient way. It helps your classroom flow and feel and creates a conducive learning environment for your students.
However, to actually ACHIEVE that organization is sometimes a lot easier said than done. I’ve learned some quick tips along these years for setting your organization up for success and want to help YOU! One secret? It’s HOW you pack up your classroom at the end of the year! Doing this has been a GAME CHANGER for getting a great start to a relaxing summer and the next school year. I promise setting up next year will be a breeze after you read about these products and tips!
Let me help you go from feeling disorganized and overwhelmed to packed up and ready for SUMMER!
The Tools
These are PERFECT for center activities, games, or anything else you currently have in ziploc bags that get torn up. These are so durable, waterproof, AND they have a label pocket for easy labeling and relabeling whenever you need! Click on the link above or the picture below to take you to where you can purchase!
Every teacher deserves a designated, organized spot for all the most important supplies. This is a fun project AND you can make it even easier with ready made labels from TeachCreateMotivate HERE! The labels are editable to fit all your specific teacher essential items!
These are the BEST organization bins for centers and materials for all your various units throughout the year! Check out THESE math center labels for all your unit standards for math! reading units are coming soon! Or you can grab the editable watercolor labels! You can also grab these bins on sale for a GREAT price throughout the year!
Math Center Organization Labels
Editable Organization Labels
If you aren’t using some organizational supplies from Carson Dellosa, you’re missing out on some great products! THIS is my go to for organization for ALL my anchor charts and bulletin board pieces! And speaking of bulletin boards, of course none is complete without some cute borders, so don’t forget to grab your borders’ very own storage bag HERE!
These are literally what they’re called because they’re….. I bet you can’t guess?
REALLY USEFUL! These are great for alllll the little things that always seem too small for other organization boxes. I love to use this for mini erasers, math manipulatives, and so much more!
What’s better than a super organized area? A super organized area that takes up little to no space! These bins are not only wonderfully divided for all kinds of storage needs, but they’re also stackable so you can save some of that precious classroom space! I love that the tops are clear so you can easily see exactly what you have.
The Clean Up
Now that you’ve got all your organizational tools, it’s time to declutter and clean up. This part is CRUCIAL to not accumulating items you no longer need into a new school year. Here are some tips for this part of the process:
-Make piles for everything: things you can trash, things you will keep, and things you can donate (donating to other teachers, especially new ones, is always a sweet act!)
-Label all the things: you can make super cute labels later but labeling all your categories and materials will be super helpful when it comes to putting all your stuff inside your various organizational tools.
Math Center Organization Labels
-Clean and Sanitize: This not only is a great practice to continue making your classroom a safe germ free environment, but it also helps out the often under-appreciated custodial staff! With all that this year has brought us, even wiping down your laminated activities is a good idea!
The Storage
It’s a great feeling to have only the things you need to pack up nice and organized, labeled and cleaned! Now you can have all the fun storing things in your organizational tools! Here are some things you can think about:
-Ask yourself HOW do you want your thing organized? Maybe you want all of your math manipulatives in one place? Or maybe you want to organize your math manipulatives inside the centers where you use them? Find out what works best for you.
-Think about the flow of your classroom when decided on the best ways to store and organize your items. Do you want to store everything by areas in your room? All your reading area things might go together. All your teacher space items and decor might go together. What are the most essential items used on a daily basis? Group those like items together.
-Organize your overflow. Sometimes we may have an abundance of supplies, such as glue, crayons, or paper, that we don’t necessarily need all the time. Organize those items in such a way that when you do need to replenish from the overflow area, it’s easily accessible.
-This FREE organization checklist can help you sort through ALL things cleaning, organizing, and packing. Grab it below!
Love this FREE resource?
The Plan
Plan for the year ahead! Make those back to school copies, get those open house things ready, and start prepping what you can for students! This may sound like a lot but your future self will thank you.
These are items that can be printed and sorted for back to school. You can store them in cabinets for the following year and already a great jump start when back to school comes around.
It’s the little things like this that will save you time down the road and reduce the stress of the new year. If you love these ideas, check out my beginning of the year teacher survival guide. It is jam packed with everything you need to start your year out right and have fun doing it!
Beginning of the Year Teacher Survival Guide
The Benefits
Making it a point to organize your classroom is such a smart idea that your future self will thank you for when it comes time to set up for the next school year. You can truly enjoy your summer vacation and relax knowing that when it comes time to head back, unpacking will be smooth sailing. After you clean your classroom, you can begin to set up your room by areas such as math, reading, etc., based on your organized bins/bags. It’s a quicker and better transition into the beginning of the year when at times we may feel we’re pulled from our rooms for training sessions and meetings and there’s little time to set up.
Have other ideas to help teachers get organized? I’d LOVE to hear! Share in the comments below and let’s chat about all the tips and hacks you’ve learned over the years to help with getting your classroom configured!
I hope you enjoyed gaining some quick ways to help set yourself up for success when it comes to organizing and cleaning up your classroom at the end of the year. Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! Not only will you get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including End of the Year Organization Checklist FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how-to videos! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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